Explored the forest kingdom today, did a few sides missions along the way. Died for the first time to a LV50 goliath (I was only LV23) and decided to return at later time as I wasn't dealing any substantial damage anyway.
Found the castle location a little difficult to navigate with the forced 2D perspective but this also happen to be the moment I discovered that the camera could be moved in this sections (assumed it was locked) which made finding hidden rooms significantly easier.
After reaching the king - a tiny machine cradled like baby - they're swiftly executed by a rogue android named A2. The ensuing boss was fairly easy, and honestly I find most encounters in the horizontal 2D side-scrolling sections to be somewhat lacklustre given the limited room for the player to move around in. Enemies can only approach you in two directions and their attacks have to be evadable within that enclosed area so often times attacks are really easy to dodge. Without the large open spaces to throw out complex bullet patterns, most horizontal 2D sections consist of minimal bullets that are simple to avoid and the horizontal perspective makes aiming easier and by virtue shooting down projectiles a breeze. This mainly applies to the 'horizontal' sections as the 'overhead' perspective gives you more directions to work with and thus the encounters can be more elaborate. But even so the horizontal sections didn't need to be so middling as games like Metroid are entirely in a horizontal 2D plane and while they fall victim to some of the same issues, overall they manage to craft more compelling action in this perspective.
Afterwards I proceeded to complete the backlog of quests that had piled up. Have to say: I REALLY dislike the amount of times I've had to come back to the abandoned factory just to pick up stuff. It doesn't feel as if the map is big enough or that the space they have is used to its fullest extent with so many side quests taking place in the same location. On the subject of tedium; having to sit through all the dialogue and camera pans to the goal on each attempt of the "Speedstar" quest is very frustrating. I tend to be bothered by intermittent pauses in gameplay more than slowly paced sections so this was especially bothersome for myself.
Due to all of these annoyances I decided to drop by the Flooded City. In doing so, lead me to unintentionally making progress in the story and consequently getting locked out of several quests that'll have to be next playthrough now (though probably for the best).
It here that another on rails shoot 'em up sequence took place. I liked this one even if it dragged a bit. 9S gets separated from 2B and now I'll have to obtain a scanner to seek out his Black Box signal.
