This Game is Frustrating!

[Pimpton23]

Okay, so I finally got the hang of this game around Level 3 and now that I am on Level 5 I am completely lost. This game is insanely hard and frustrating now and I am about to give up. I have spent about 4 hours on just this one level, and each time I have ran out of time before I finished. Does anyone have any pointers on how to plant all 29 of the seeds in this level, and/or how to clear it at all? Is anybody else getting irate with this game? I mean, it is fun and very addicting, but c'mon. This s*** is rediculously hard all of a sudden (at least for me)!:mad::(

[robert]

Okay, so I finally got the hang of this game around Level 3 and now that I am on Level 5 I am completely lost. This game is insanely hard and frustrating now and I am about to give up. I have spent about 4 hours on just this one level, and each time I have ran out of time before I finished. Does anyone have any pointers on how to plant all 29 of the seeds in this level, and/or how to clear it at all? Is anybody else getting irate with this game? I mean, it is fun and very addicting, but c'mon. This s*** is rediculously hard all of a sudden (at least for me)!:mad::(

Haha, to be honest I was never attracted to this game in the first place so I did not buy it. Hopefully you will find some help here :)

[Advent_Echo]

I tried this at a friends house he kept on yelling at me cause i kept on falling and then it would kill both of us so from my experience it wasn't a really fun game.

-AE

[Pimpton23]

It's not so much fun as it is challenging, but I'm very competitive no matter what I do, and I like collecting the trophies, which is the only reason I bought this game. Plus I like to finish what I have started. I guess it's a curse I have. LOL

[requiem]

Honestly, I'd lay off PJ:E until maps are released because it is quite difficult to navigate when you have no idea where to go.

Also the glowing things, I can't recall what they are called, are what you need to collect to 'beat' a level. Afterwards, when you come back, there are more and more each time to collect, so have fun with that! :o

[robert]

I have been spending a couple of hours now trying to beat the first garden but it is difficult...

[ryan-the-retard]

The first GARDEN!? Go up from the start. When you get to the first flower go right. First spectra there. Go back to flower and go up. Another spectra there. Then go up left for another spectra. Then go right and then up until you get to a second flower then up and right to a BIG seed. When you open it go up right for another spectra. Then go back down to the second flower and up left until you get the next spectra.

[gam_crazy]

no offense, but u guys suck at this game. I also get very irritaded with it though. Ive got 1 spectra in each garden and got all the seeds in every garden up to level 6. I pretty much stopped playing it, it kinda pisses me off.

[ReaperOscuro]

Hhhmmm...i dont see why Pixeljunk Eden is getting so much flak!

I think gamers have been too, shall we say, wrapped up in cotton wool nowadays, and when you get a challenging game, it all goes bananas!

But enough with the metaphors, lets get on with some pointers. I think this game, challenge-wise, is very viable, so long as several things are kept in mind:

1) It is a race against the clock, with the timer represented by the synchronization meter, so always keep an eye on it and keep it nicely topped up. That may sound pretty obvious, but I found that it was very easy to get engrossed in the game, to then notice things weren't going well only when you hear the alarm sound, eg. too late.

2) Managing your crystals efficiently is the key to victory: I strongly recommend to leave the crystals at the bottom of the screen alone, and concentrate only on those which you find on your way upwards. This way, if you find yourself critically low, you just need to drop back down and pick up what you need. Further, do not collect crystals if you do not need them: they are much better off left there in case of an emergency (of course, if your collecting small crystals, the bar gets full, and your jump is going to make you collect a few more, dont screw up your trajectory just to avoid them). If there are small and big crystals, go for the small ones: the big ones should only be collected if the bar is getting to its half-way mark.

3) Getting all seeds in a level can be done on the first go, but if this is getting too tricky, then dont worry: concentrate on collecting all Spectra for that level first. Once you have, return to it and go for the seeds. Spectra completely refill the meter, so they help greatly on keeping you alive.
Importantly, remember that, once you come out of a garden (either by dying, exiting it or collecting the needed Spectra), the game will not keep a count of how many seeds you activated: this means that, if you are going for getting all the Spectra in a garden, there is no point in each time activating all the seeds, as this is a time-consuming thing and, repeat times five for what, ten levels, can get very frustrating, very quickly. If you are looking to get big scores for a garden, so along with all the seeds activated, then I suggest to wait untill you have all five Spectra for that level.

4) Most importantly, however, is learning how to use the pollen prowlers efficiently. Not that I can chain huge amounts of them, but it is important to always try and get a minimum of three at a time. Do not start swinging, or jumping towards one, as soon as you see it: instead, jump on a plant in the approaching prowlers (as in most cases, seeing one=more on their way) most likely path, and when they are all relatively close to you, swing about and chain them. This is vital for generating large amounts of pollen and powering your way through the levels' seeds, saving you lots and lots of time. Of course, remember to collect the pollen after it is released! The most effective way is to return to the nearest plant and swing it up, but for further away pollen, jumping in its path while rotating also does it.

5) Keep in mind that you can generate extra crystals in a number of ways: chain five/10/15 (lol although havent reached fifteen yet, so I can't be certain of that) pollen prowlers together, or activate more than one seed simultaneously (by jumping on one, and having the resulting jump throw you onto another one). Whenever you do that, a ring of....I believe six/eight crystals will form -collect these immediately, as they will disappear after a while!!

6) Due to the above, it is advised not to progress to a seed untill pollen that you are collecting has stopped flowing towards them: that way you can be certain that you have filled up every seed in the vicinity, and that you can hopefully chain a couple together -along with making sure you haven't left any lying about.

7) Use the fact that pollen being collected flows to empty seeds to your advantage: think of it as a trail of breadcrumbs, and once they are full, just go in that direction! Further, if you are jumping about, and all of a sudden pollen that you are collecting starts flowing away from you, it is suggested that you do not ignore that and follow through, unless you are in a hurry and you know that it is not leading you towards the Spectra.
On that note, do not forget to utilise the Spectras' glow to navigate the gardens: theoretically, if you point in the direction of a Spectra, your pointer should glow, but I often found it hard to determine if this was happening or not. Jumping and pointing in a direction seemed to do the trick for me, as not only would the pointers' glow show up much better, but often the edge of the screen towards which the Spectra is would also glow.

8) Last but not least, it may sound silly, but dont forget to keep an eye on how many seeds are left! Unless my memory is completely gone, you only need to go into the pause menu: several times I found myself going about looking for seeds when I had filled them all up already, not fun.


To summarise:

-Keep an eye on your synchronisation meter.
-Keep crystals in reserve for when you need them.
-Chain pollen prowlers to a minimum of three, ideally to five and beyond, every time.
-Collect the resulting pollen.
-Once all seeds in an area are full, go and activate them, hopefully chaining them.
-Keep an eye on pollen going towards empty seeds, and follow through on that.
-Follow the glow of the Spectra and collect them.
-Rinse and repeat.

Hope that helps, go PixelJunk Eden!