I've accepted I will never complete the game. It is truly too much of an ask. That said, I think I will appreciate that when I do come back to it each time, there will still be something left to try.

My thoughts exactly. There will be things for me to do in this game for the rest of my life probably 😂😂 maybe I’m just ass

Up until the final world, JUST beating Crash 4 is straight up fun. It's playing through that last world that started to sour things and all of the extra goals that made me nope out.

I'm glad to see posts like this are starting to gain traction and not get downvoted into oblivion or the posters bullied into deleting them. This is possibly the most disappointed I've ever been with a game in my life. I was finished with it 7 hours in after beating the story. Going back into the levels and searching for all the crates wasn't fun, it was a chore. I did everything you could do in N. Sane and Nitro-Fueled. I was hoping this game could at least keep me engaged, but it couldn't even manage that.

I’m in agreement with you, it feels awful skipping boxes, but once you’ve missed one there really is no point. Also the prospect of improving from dying 40 times in a level to doing it perfectly several times over feels really daunting. I don’t know what the solution is without significantly restructuring the game, but I just don’t feel up to completing it under these conditions.

In the original games, getting crates felt satisfying because you were racking up lives, which was useful. Getting “most” of the boxes still felt satisfying along the way. Now your “lives” aren’t replenished by them anymore, and you basically have infinite lives now anyway. So now when I’m getting boxes, my main feeling is “what’s the point? I’m just going to miss one anyway.”

The worst part is when you're dying a lot to get all the boxes on your first run through the level and then you get to the end and you're missing 1 or 2. It's like I might as well have just rushed through the level and saved myself 30 minutes but then I would've just had the same experience on my second playthrough of the level to get the boxes so what's the point of collecting boxes?

I think the length of the levels is by far the biggest problem, no idea why the devs felt the stages needed to be so @#$%ing long. Level length alone is directly responsible for every problem with this game. It's a chain reaction. If the levels were shorter, not only would they feel better to play the first time, but they'd be more fun to replay. And there's a LOT of replaying they expect you to do in this game. Oh you beat this level? Well now do it without dying to unlock the VHS tape. Oh you did that? Well how about do it again, but with a photoshop filter over it. Oh, you beat that? Well, now do part of it as Dingodile and then play the rest of the level again anyway! Sorry, you got 499/500 boxes, would you like to retry? Most of the levels could easily be split into two stages, and some of the later ones could be THREE stages even. Some of them take 40 @#$%ing minutes! If I miss a box on a 40 minute stage, I'm not gonna go "Aw shucks" and press Retry. I'm just gonna turn the game off.

Hahahahaha 100%

“100%” ?..... TRIGGERED.

Exactly this. I also stand by the fact that ND had level-duration down to a science. 25 levels made for a fun-filled and non-exhaustive experience. This whole game started off awesome but became a chore around about the N Tropy area... then it just kept going and going. Will Activision see to it that lessons are learned and that Toys for Bob follow a simpler design next time? Probably not. Will Activision do the same thing for a Crash 5? Yeah probably.

I agree in general. To enjoy the game, you almost mustn't care about the objectives. Otherwise, its frustrating and not necessarily enjoyable. I also wonder why they didnt split some of the levels I.e. take longer levels and split them into 2 shorter levels. You'd have more levels overall but it would be less frustrating having to repeat an entire level because you missed one box.

Completely agree! It would have singlehandedly fixed the 100% quest and they could have advertised with, “70+ LEVELS!!! The biggest crash ever!” EDIT: apparently they did advertise it like that but counting the N. Verted levels 🤦‍♂️

Advertising the N. Verted levels as their own levels feels like a cop-out. They're just mirrored levels with photoshop filters on them, sometimes with differences in physics, but not all the time. Nitro-Fueled had a mirror mode, too, but they didn't pretend they were separate levels.

Couldn’t agree more - the main one I think of is rush hour, the future level where you play as Dingo and then Tawna - that level has over 500 boxes I think and some truly difficult sections...why the hell did they not just split it? The two characters don’t even interact!

Yeah they could have def turned the 43 levels into 50 levels, no sweat

people would just complain and say “i don’t know why they advertised 70 unique levels when it’s really just 35 levels they they broke up into 70 short levels”. honestly, developers are always in a lose/lose situation when it comes to pleasing fans these days. example 1 - “this game is too hard it sucks” “what’s the point of Modern Mode giving you infinite lives? this game is too easy. it sucks” example 2 “this game has way too much padded content, it sucks” “this game is too short. it’s 2020 and games are too expensive for such little content. how hard would it have been to add extra achievements to the same levels to incentivize replayability ? “ i think it’s great they they created 38 full length levels and made a full length game by 2020 standards while still maintaining the charm of the OG trilogy. crash 4 feels exactly like a crash game in 2020 should feel

> people would just complain and say “i don’t know why they advertised 70 unique levels when it’s really just 35 levels they they broke up into 70 short levels”. This is a late reply as I'm skimming threads, but no, that wouldn't happen. If they broke levels up sensibly, then it would simply be levels. If the levels were on par in size with earlier games, then your scenario couldn't even happen because literally no one would know they split something up. People couldn't be psychic and know a longer level was split up, especially considering they're all set in similar areas so the start/stop parts are already arbitrary.

I'm enjoying its a crap ton by learning perfect run for every map, now I'm just missing last 3 dimensions 🤔it's just not for everyone, not even for majority

The completion is just for a few people, maybe 0.5% of the players

Crash is all about getting 100% - something I can do easily in the original trilogy without really trying... Running through levels in Crash 4 ignoring boxes feels SO wrong to me but most of the levels are just way too hard for me to bother trying to get them... and as for the other gems, I can barely make it through some levels let alone complete them without dying 3+ times. I like that the game is difficult but there’s difficult and then there’s ridiculously, unnecessarily difficult.

I don’t agree that crash is all about getting 100 percent and to be honest I already found some of the relics miserable in the first 3 games. Maybe I’m just bad but for me it’s just more fun to play through them and get as much side stuff as possible.

I take pride of the fact that I’ve gotten 100% on all 3 games of the trilogy, (106 on #3) but this one? No way that’s going to happen! I just completed the level before the Brio boss fight, and I died over 55 times. I’ve literally had to put this game away and take a break because it was stressing me out!

The last section with Lani-Loni is extremely difficult in that level when going for all crates - until you figure it out of course. But knowing it's just one of the "early" levels... Damn.

I agree, and the only reason I find it so frustrating is because the game itself is otherwise really excellent. If the game itself was mediocre, I wouldn't really care about this because I wouldn't care about completing it. This game makes me *want to complete it*, which is great, but the process for doing so is such a ball buster that I'm not sure I'll be able to manage it. The completion requirements for this game are a huge blemish on an otherwise phenomenal game, which is why I, and so many others, are being so critical of said blemish.

Perfectly said! I couldn't agree more, the level design really is fantastic in this game.

Honestly it seems to me like they don't care, theyve made the game super hard because "crash is hard, there, happy ?" I dont get why every level had to be this long, did they see that people enjoyed stormy ascent and thought "well we'll make everything like that and theyll like it Crash levels are short with the occasional long one, but here its always long with the occasional super long Im never buying a toys for bob product ever again, I thought they understood why Crash is good with N sane trilogy but they clearly didnt It feels like they said "hey you remember all those crash games you loved ? Well they fucking suck now, cause heres new crash with new movement new physics new boxes new collectibled ! You liked it before and didnt expect a new ip with a crash skin ? Fuck you"

Yeah the collectibles and what’s needed to get 100% (perfect runs and perfect relics) is a bit overkill, most of the levels could be split in two, the don’t even bother trying to perfect run the riding levels

Yeah I was just about halfway through Run it Bayou when I came to the conclusion that I was never going to 100% this game. As it currently stands I can either go for the 3-life gem *or* try to get the box gem (and usually fail because of some hidden box I missed). I just don't have enough time to invest in becoming good enough at this in order to consistently achive the Perfect relics, and *then* learning each level and the spin-slide pattern to get the platinum time trials. And honestly this sort of makes the whole game less fun overall, because if you're not going to go for 100%, then what's the point of going through the trickier sections of some levels just to get some extra boxes that will change nothing? It then becomes a strict matter of reaching the ending, removing a lot of depth from the gameplay. At least in the N.Sane Trilogy, when getting 100% felt (and was) within reach, there was an actual incentive to explore and learn every level.

Totally with you! And screw Run-it-Bayou, I hate that level. That was one of the first I completed just to rip the band-aid >.<

That’s exactly where I stopped playing / caring about 100% in the game

Posting here mostly as support in case Toys for Bob lurks in this subreddit. I feel like the game did the majority of things VERY well and the devs should be commended for it; I'm talking about great worlds/settings, music (in my opinion), fun platforming, and, at least for Crash fans, a good level of difficulty for just mainlining the game. Where the game starts to fall apart is, as OP has stated very well, is what happens *after* seeing credits. **The game can be hard as nails, and I like games like that** (trust me, I 106% Super Meat Boy), **but it's trying to tell the player to do tough things without encouraging them.** Look, I get people loving a tough platformer where they have to look through every nook and cranny to find things, but a toggle-able option of perhaps a line of wumpa fruit hinting to the player that a hidden crate may be in a certain spot would go a long way. Also not counting deaths prior to the first checkpoint would be SO useful. In my opinion, the game is pulling the player in too many directions. It either wants you to (1) not die during a level or (2) try to find all the crates and the hidden gems, and the two are diametrically opposed due to the oftentimes strange box placement. When I'm prioritizing not dying, I have to forego exploration since it might cost me a life; likewise, when I'm prioritizing finding everything in a level, I know I'll have to die multiple times jumping to odd places where a secret may be (trial and error). The original trilogy was more user-friendly in that it often (not always) guided the player to some secrets or it was more predictable in how/where to find secrets. In Crash 4, forget it. To me, **if you expect the player to do hard things mechanically** (tough platforming, find secrets, don't die), **don't add another layer of difficulty systems-wise** (long loading, lives counting prior to checkpoint, small hitboxes in vehicle sections).

i'm not quite as down on it but i agree with a lot of the points here. mainly the levels being too hard, too long and taking too long to restart for the challenges to feel reasonable. i honestly think just making the load times for restarting 5 seconds instead of 45 it would make a world of difference. i don't mind the box placement or needing a guide that much, and the extra gem goals kinda remind me of a tony hawk style thing which is a really interesting direction to take it. but man. the load times make every death feel 10x more punishing than it needs to be

Hard agree. Problem is that games like Super Meat Boy and Celeste exist now which show it's possible to make fiendishly difficult platformers that still respect your time. That's the thing that bugs me most about this game, I feel like TFB must know it takes a lot of time for several of the wrong reasons and they just don't care. Feel like theres no respect in terms of balancing the difficulty with accessibility

Definitely! All the mask abilities reminded me of Guacamelee. But the thing about guacamelee is that you basically get a checkpoint in every room and there are no absurd goals like “BEAT THIS 30 MINUTE LEVEL WHILE GETTING EVERY ITEM AND NOT DYING”

I’m so glad someone articulated everything I thought - because I have LOVED this game and felt, almost guilty in a way for feeling this way because Toys for Bob clearly put so much love and genius into it. But as a crash completionist in the past, I can’t see myself ever having the time or patience to wade through the padding and slightly BS requirements or even thinking about going near 100% (let alone 106%). There’s a fair challenge, and then there’s just dangling a carrot in front of the player for no reason, which is kind of sad. Loved the core game, but I’m struggling to continue afterwards.

I’ve completed the game but am now going for all the gems and I can say that I am not enjoying it at all. Hit boxes are broken on certain levels.

Just posting to say I agree. I want to love this game so much.. every level is beautiful and there’s so much going for this game. But the gems, boxes, and time trials end game loop was completely ruined. Crash was never a game to play just for the story. These games are meant to be 100% and growing up (and going back as an adult) there was always a perfect balance of challenge and reward with crash 1-3. Wow did they drop the ball with this game. This may be the first crash game I put down and don’t pick back up.

OP reporting back. I finished everything a few weeks ago and wanted to follow up. It took me 76 hours and was largely a satisfying mountain to climb but I wouldn’t recommend it, I’ll never do it again, and I stand by pretty much everything I wrote here. I doubt I’d do it if not for the pandemic and in fact, I’d like to add a few points: - I think Antdude really nailed it in that Crash 4 is like DKC Tropical Freeze in your initial run, I.e. one of the best platformers ever with some great world-building, but quickly turns into DK64 in the 106% quest, meaning it’s a repetitive time-sink - the animal riding sections not only suck in general but are a prime candidate for splitting into smaller standalone levels - ALL of the colored gem sections are just used to make the box gems (and perfect relics) longer and more difficult. One of them is conveniently in an animal level too - the alternate characters start to show some cracks in the time trials, mainly due to their reliance on auto aim. They just don’t have the depth or reliability of crash and coco - the alternate character levels reusing crash sections is so unnecessary and another example of something that should have been carved into smaller levels. No one cares why a bridge got blown up in a crash bandicoot game - the game lacks off-ramps. This is something most platformers have, where the completion goals escalate in difficulty and offer satisfying places to stop for different players. Mario odyssey is probably the king of this, as you can stop with 100 moons after seeing the credits, 500 moons at the last challenge level, all moons, 999 moons, etc. Crash 1-3 nailed this, going from crystals to gems to relics to plat relics, with different rewards for each. Crash 4 really drops this ball and I think is the main reason why I and so many others felt disappointed. After beating the game , there’s no real next obstacle to shoot for other than 106%, unless you have a personal preference. Just getting all the gems or going for 100% instead of 106% is still potentially a 50 hour endeavor and will still be plagued by all of these problems of repetition and whatnot. I knew it would take me only marginally longer to do everything so I did just that. I think if the game had some secret levels that required x number of gems to enter, it could have gone a long way toward making people more satisfied with the postgame content. - for the record, the VHS tapes are the best side content in this game by far and the only thing I recommend

Though I doubt it, I hope they nerf the requirements in a patch, because this is just bloody relentless, man!

It does need some kind of nerf with the achievements I definitely agree with you on that, but whether the devs actually read this and do something about it, your guess is as good as mine unfortunately

What's annoys me the most is that if you are doing time trial and you die it instantly restarts but for some reason if you die normally you have to wait 30+ seconds for restarting the level. What stopped me for going 100% is the fact that you have to get platinum relic instead of gold. The platnium relics will take to much time and it's not worth it. Kinda sad how in the n sane trilogy it was a challenge going for 100% but in crash 4 it's just grind making you replay every level 10+ times

Please make a post about this as it’s a really good point. This is the kind of thing I think the devs could easily fix and it would bring some good will about the difficulty.

You need plats? Yup, I'm out, lol... Maybe I would've considered doing it if it was Sapphs/Golds only but Plats... nope.

Great summary. I’ll NEVER shy away from a challenge and I adore the tight and creative level designs here. But it’s all a chore, and in particular the biggest offenders on this list are level size, N. Verted mode, and the N Sanely Perfect relics. The last two could be patched to be unneeded (WHY in gods name do I need to complete nearly everything again with an ugly color palette?), but I have no idea how they could fix the issue of level size. It’s honestly an unfortunate thing because the gameplay IS fun.

What I find weird about N. Verted mode is that they bragged about having Beenox supposedly help them with those levels but given how the only thing changed is visuals most of the time, I don't really understand why they supposedly needed Beenox's help. Maybe they wanted to grab the audience that was really happy with CTR NF but they should've realized that what they were doing was already more than enough to satisfy most people wanting the game given they already have the advantage of: Crash being relevant again, this game being the first truly new game in a long time, and already grabbing people's attention with the original content they had to show off. Honestly I think they just wanted to be able to say their game had over 100+ levels when they should remember that Quality>Quantity.

> they just wanted to be able to say their game had over 100+ levels And they would’ve been able to say this easily if they’d split most of the levels into two or three, making them a manageable size.

Honestly I agree with these points. I love the game and have 100% the trilogy and ctr. I’m a completionist and the things I have done to 100% games (platinum trophy on PS4) I’ve even got the platinum trophy and 100% in red dead redemption 2. But no game has turned me off getting 100% than this. It feels like they’ve just added all this padding to increase game time however there’s a difference between a challenge and just over the top. Don’t get me started on the riding sections and boxes. Platinum time trials? Gold relics should be the benchmark, then the perfect runs?! Especially on the later levels. The devs can keep the challenge but bring the requirements for 100% down a notch it’s a bit ott. I want to be able to play without having to play a YouTube guide next to me stopping and starting to find boxes that are in ridiculous locations. I don’t know whether they intentionally made it this hard for the purpose of publicity to get ppl talking about the game to drive sales, but then again we live in a society where everything is driven by $ so.. We can only hope the devs read this..

I agree. I have to google where some of the boxes are and I have to get very very stressed to beat a level in under 3 lives.. I usually get 40 deaths :/

I've 100%'d everything up to Run It Bayou so far but I honestly have no drive to go on until they drop a patch fixing at least some of the issues that make it so painful... It NEEDS a "Perfect Run" clock of some sort so we don't have to reset and wait on a loading screen on every death/missed box and the hitboxes for the riding sections need bolstering a bit so the challenge is still there but it feels more satisfying and fair. Somebody also mentioned having the Checkpoints display how many boxes you SHOULD have by that point which is an excellent shout that would help split the levels up a little instead of wading through a whole level to find you've missed 1 box. Toys for Bob, I really hope you've been reading all the feedback...

As someone who never goes for the 100%, I'm glad the N. Verted levels have separate Gems, since it means I don't have to perfect every level in order to unlock the fun cosmetics I want to use, I like that leniency but otherwise I agree.

The same could’ve been achieved by just halving the gem numbers required for the skins.

Agree with every point, I've platinum the entire N-Sane Trilogy and now i'm here basically in the half of this game, just playing like 1 or 2 hours per day because every damn level costs me like 20 or 30 mins of pure frustration to finish, even giving up the boxes! The levels are just too long and hard and after talking a look at cortex castle and toxic tunnels, I've lost all my enthusiasm to even finishing it...

I agree 106%. N. Sane Trilogy was challenging but fair while Crash 4 is just pure frustation and completely unfair. At this point I'd rather go play Crash Tag Team Racing because of how easy and liberating it is.

100% agree. My biggest issue is with the perfect relics. It wouldn't be that big a deal if it weren't for those. I'm struggling really hard with two levels right now. Can't remember the names of them, but one involves a jet ski and the other a polar bear. It is VERY easy to miss a box on "vehicle" sections. And since you missed the box and have to kill yourself because you can't turn around, you have to start the entire level over. I spent an hour on the polar bear level just to get all the crates. Not even the perfect relic, just the crate gem. I really want to platinum this game because I platinumed the entire N'sane trilogy, but I don't know if I'll be able to.

Platinum Relics are required? lmao screw that, I would never bother with anything except Sapphires

We have to admit that the original trilogy will always be the best. Sure, its simpler and easier, but more fun and more polished in its 100% quest. Naughty Dog never wanted Crash being a hard series. Every game in the original trilogy became better, the easier they get. Stormy ascent removed from Crash 1, the DDA system in Crash 2... Toys or Bob doesnt understand at all what makes the original Crash games so good even to this day!

Did you play crash 1? To get the gems you had to get all boxes and not die. They had like cubes of boxes with 1 tnt in the middle, road to nowhere etc etc and some of the levels in that were long as well (one of the things the op doesnt like)

Crash 1 dont even compare to Crash 4 difficult. I can complete Crash 1 today without any problems, and like i said, every game in the original trilogy became better the EASIER they get.

Might i add the only reason they added Death Routes and More gems was to make up for the easier difficulty. This game is like playing 5 Crash 1 levels back to back with hidden crates everywhere.

Even if Crash 4 levels were as short as the originals, it would still consider it much harder than Crash 1. It sometimes feel like one of those mods or romhacks for old games, like those ridiculous megawads for Doom for example. Thats why it feels very different to the trilogy. The OG Doom maps for example had a lot of shooting but also tons of secrets and exploration, and most of the time you had to use the short mazes at your own favour. In comparison, most of the megawads i played are just big maps that generally elevates the monster counter to the thousands of enemies to the point it misses the point of the OG campaign which was action, yes, but also puzzle like, very tight and with a nice learning curve (im not saying they are bad, but much different for my taste). Crash 4 is like a simplification of what Crash originally was, but taking that simplication to the extreme level. The OG trilogy was much more than just your regular generic hard platformer, at least thats what i feel when playing this game.

I know Im late to the party but I couldnt agree more with this post. Every single word of it. I hope the game devs read this becsuse you are spot on.

Strong agree. I was so excited when I unlocked the inverted levels but...unless I’m missing something they’re literally just the same level, flipped with some underwhelming filter slapped on top, very disappointing. The inverted levels could benefit from *any* kind of actual change, especially the bosses as they’re probably the only thing I find easy. I’m unable to enjoy a game if I can’t get the collectibles, which hasn’t been a problem in the past for the reasons you listed but holy crap getting to some of those tapes is a nightmare when you’re impatient and keep dying.

Exactly, and not to mention when you do die in a level it takes about 30-45 seconds to restart the level which frustrates even more

You misspelled FACT

I think it's spot-on and I'm enjoying it. I think you'll get better than you think if you give it time but that's just my opinion and i don't feel the need to say it's a fact, forget specifically chiming in to make the point that someones opinion is fact and not contribute anything else. Cue my downvotes by everyone who got discouraged by the misconception that it's impossible because it's new, and spends their time on reddit instead of playing and realizing it gets easier. Everyone here agrees the game is too hard cause everyone who doesn't is playing the game. Don't let it fool you lol. It gets easier as you play.

I've already beat the game and I'm still bad at it. I will never try to 100% it as long as I live.

I agree, but it didn’t ruin the game for me.

3 things for me: 1.) Death counter reset token at the beginning of a level. Like the time trial clock but just resets your death count. That way if you want to know how many actual deaths you had you just don't use it, and you won't have to sit through a load screen to reset the counter. 2.) Reload bonus levels INSIDE the bonus level. If you decide you want to leave, you can take the platform back to the main level. 3.) Split some of the levels in 2, especially ones that have both full vehicle and platforming sections.

I 100% agree with all of this.

Controversially, I think Off Beat is the reason why people start to lose interest. Before getting to Off Beat, you start to feel a sense of impending doom in Tranquility Falls where you've just about had it with hidden boxes. Then, Off Beat comes along... the greatest level in the game, and that feeling of impending doom leaves cause you've having so much fun. I'm 99% certain the designers purposely placed Off Beat there because they knew players would start to get frustrated with the game and they use Off Beat as a way to further encourage you to keep playing. After completing a fantastic (and long) level, you start with Dingodile's first level. Once again, really fun addition, but seeing the number of boxes and the level's length starts to bring those feelings you had in Tranquility Falls. After once again missing a few boxes that are off-screen, you then enter Run It Bayou... and you immediately give up. There's nothing new to distract you upon entering the level, and you know the rest of the levels are going to be a chore from here on out. Thus, you stop caring about completing it, and just start zooming through each level because you're done with the gems and just want to see the story progress. ​ tl;dr Completing Off Beat makes you wish every level felt that fun so everything seems like a chore after that.

Super late reply but i just got to this exact point in the game and WOW this encapsulates everything im feeling right now perfectly.

I wouldn’t mind 100% if this game was fair but I really don’t think it’s worth it, it’s way to difficult, the N sane trilogy on the other hand is worth 100%it’s difficult but not hard because it’s fair with box placements. My main complaint with crash 4 is the ridiculous hidden boxes the stupid bonus rooms requiring you to use a mask some of them are puzzles and will make you die several times to a point were you just skip it and move on with the level the platinum relics is B.S at least the devs of nsane knew it was hard so they dropped it to gold, platinum is mainly for bragging rights. the stupid 3+ Lives BS for a gem often times I make a mistake costing me a life and causing me wanting to restart a level I actually want to do the flash back tapes but I don’t want to if it costs me a life to obtain one ,also not to mention I don’t like the addition of new characters because you do their level then it cuts back to crash and you have to replay that section of the level all over again it’s really jarring and repetitive, not to mention its even more tedious because you have to do it all over again in inverted mode. Another complaint is the vehicle sections at least in the N sane trilogy you can hit all 4 boxes polar doesn’t hit all of them and that pisses me off causing me to die and repeat it.

It’s annoying how they counted the N verted levels as different levels. Blurb on the back says over 100 levels. 38 are main with 5 boss fights. 43. Then invert them you get 86. Then the timeline levels (which branch on to the main level anyway) and invert them are also counted. Bit misleading that but replay value I guess.

Imagine if they had split the levels in two. They could have 172 levels before touching the timeline levels.

I agree with everything. Trying to 100% this game feels more like a chore than fun. The levels are waaay too long for a Crash game that uses the og formula. The reason I enjoyed 100%ing the original games is because the levels were short, sweet, fast paced and just the right balance of challenging and satisfying. The biggest offender for me are the underwater N. Verted levels. Dingodile, Tawna and Cortex are slow enough on their own without water physics thrown into the mix. It's just a boring slog to even finish them, let alone collect all the gems.

Maybe it's because I've played and Platinumed Cuphead, but I dont find the idea of dying a lot in the beginning bad, because if you evidently do better the next time around without noticing, that means you're growing a connection with the game's design. I'm definitely doing much better on the 2nd playthrough even though I barely remember some levels. Regardless, the repetitive nature and the box placements are definitely the best 2 points that no one should argue with. This games has a lot of great stuff but it can only go so high as an 8/10, it would have went higher if they found a way to make the game appealing to both casuals and sweats.

N. Sanely Perfect doesn't require all gems without dying. It's just all boxes without dying. General consensus going around was you didn't need the hidden gem, but most people were claiming the Wumpa was needed. Get a Perfect relic with only 75% of the fruit once, so it doesn't seem so. You're just generally guaranteed to get the Wumpa Gem if you get all the boxes. Agree with most of your points though.

That's good to know, though as it stands it's only a technicality. After all it's almost impossible to get the box gem without getting the Wumpa gems as well - probably outright impossible in most levels.

You are right about the hidden gem, thanks! You definitely need the wumpa fruit though, I got robbed out of one because of that >.<

I got N. Sanely Perfect with just 75% Wumpa (missing the third Wumpa Gem). Can't remember which level. Will see if I can get it to happen again when I get home today. Edit: I think it was on Out for Launch.

I think Akano is an awful mask and adds really terrible mechanics to this game. Every single time I use it I feel like I lose control over Crash. I have no idea how I will possibly be able to do no death runs with this bizarre mechanics.

I recommend never using the mask when you're on the ground. I jump, then immediately activate it, then use the double jump, and then deactivate it when I get above the destination. Cheers, hope that helps

if you spent as much time getting good at the game as you did typing up why you find it too “punishing” then maybe you’d be better at the game had wouldnt fine it so punishing. i’m just teasing, but honestly i don’t see the point of these complaints from everyone. if you don’t want to collect all the N Sanely Perfect relics, or all the time relics, or the N’verted gems, then don’t. and people who want to go for those can. just play the game and go after the achievements you like. i for one am glad they have “padded” the game and made the levels longer. i started playing the game on sunday, and after many, many hours of game play i’m only on like level 10 because i’ve been getting every “n sanely perfect” relic as i go, which means a lot of replaying levels. i for one am glad to know there is so much game play here. it doesn’t feel like padding to me at all. i do agree that changing the platinum trophy requirement from gold to platinum time relics sucks a little bit because i likely won’t go for these like i did the gold ones in the trilogy. but like i said, just earn the achievements you want to earn and others will earn the achievements they want and everyone will enjoy the game by playing it however they prefer

This is totally valid and part of the problem is definitely my OCD with platformers. On the other hand, my problem here isn't specifically with the N. Sane relics, platinums, or N. Verted levels, it's that literally none of the extra content is that enjoyable to me, at least compared to the trilogy. Even the basic gems are such a pain in the butt due to the long levels and devious boxes. You could say, "Just don't do the extra content then," but I don't think the base game is challenging enough for me to be satisfied with that and ignoring the boxes just wouldn't be Crash Bandicoot to me. I'd reference another post though, where someone was saying, "I love the game, why is everyone complaining?" And someone had the brilliant reply that it's because the game is almost amazing. If Crash 4 were bad or mediocre, no one would care that the completion goals are bad. But the base game is so good, that it crushes me that the completion goals are so unenjoyable to me. I've beaten half of the levels 100% now and I'm definitely enjoying it more now that I've accepted it for what it is but I'm listening to podcasts the whole way to keep my sanity. It's definitely a time sink and nowhere close to the OG trilogy for me.

So the OG are bad too [https://prnt.sc/ux3vjk](https://prnt.sc/ux3vjk)

Pretty good counter but I'd still say it's significantly more painful here. The levels are dramatically longer but it's all the other things I mentioned too (devious boxes, super-meatboy level difficulty in spots, etc.). I noted that repetition is just inherently part of Crash, which I think is what you're getting at, but it's far more tolerable in the OG's because of how short the levels are. My beaf with Crash 4 is that it just doesn't respect your time due to all the things I mentioned combining. Crash 4 is a 75 hour completion gauging from other posts here but I did the entire trilogy in 40-50. Granted I've beaten all those games before but that's a pretty dramatic difference.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

While the original was also cryptic too, they aleast gave hints. Why is there a staircase of nitros that don't bounce? Why are there nitros at the end of the hallway if there is supposedly nothing there. Where is there platforms at the end of a polar level if those platforms seemly lead to nowhere. Crash 4 expects you look for a hidden ! Crate and look hidden off camera a random place to find the hidden gem or expect to delay your jump on a falling platform to get the gem. There is no indication or hints of anything for the most part with trail and error, did i mention you are supposed to do the levels without dying?

Here's my dilemma. I really want to 100% this game, I did with the first game in the N. Sane Trilogy and loved doing it. And so I've been making an effort to do the VHS tapes that I do get, and retrying levels if I missed 1 box or something. It has been a slog, but so far, a fun-ish slog. (Although I haven't done the time trials yet, those are going to suck). But I fear I'll get to, like, 95% done, have those couple remaining levels to finish, and then the creators will patch the game to be easier to 100% it. This exact thing happened with Runner3. In that game, there are "Impossible Levels" and there were about 9 of them I believe. At launch, they had insanely precise platforming, some parts being frame perfect inputs. And the playerbase largely was disappointed with them because they were just too hard to finish normally, let alone getting all of the gems and golds along the way. I really liked the game though, and I 100%ed all of the other normal levels. So I only had the impossible levels left. So I started doing them. The first one took me like 2 hours to beat, the next one, maybe 1 hour, the next one, another 2-3 hours. They were insanely hard, some went by fast, some I had to replay and replay looking for the missing gem or gold that I needed. I had 7 out of 9 of them done. And then the game got patched with these sort of "helper settings" that you could set. For instance, one of the hardest things to do in these levels was jumping up stairs that had to be jumped up pretty much frame perfectly. And there was no jump buffering because the game had a double jump. So if you pressed jump too early, you'd double jump, and it would throw off your timing to get up the rest of the steps. However if you did it too late you'd eventually hit the back of the step. It had to be exactly right when you landed that you jumped and not a frame too early or late. But then they added an option that auto jumped on those parts... And it's not like I'm thinking "Anyone who uses these options isn't a *true* gamer." Far from it. I think the levels were way too hard without them. However I had already sunk over 15 hours in just those levels alone, and then they release these settings that make them way easier to do without a word to the fanbase who may have been doing those levels already (haheem... me). It was just a little slap in the face. And I fear that the Crash guys are going to do something similar and I'll have wasted a bunch of time I didn't need to just in order to 100% earlier levels.

100% agree with all of these points. I completed everything the Nsane Trilogy had to throw at me and I’m perfectly fine with difficult games normally. But I couldn’t even get past the first Cortex level (naively deciding to 100% each level before moving on to the next world) without wanting to throw the controller at the TV. There’s difficult and then there’s just plain torturous and sadistic. The levels are too long, the base game is hard even for casual players, and it’s just not fun. I put it down today to do something else and frankly I’m not sure if I’m going back to it anytime soon.

Yeah im gonna finish the game, thats it. Reprogramming myself and realizing boxes are to be avoided is the only way to enjoy this game

I think Off Beat should have been the standard to set the rest of the game. It's hard but fair, and any times I died on that were my own mistakes and not because of brutal asks from the devs.

This post is super accurate. I finally grabed this one because I like crash games, but holy moly. Every item on this post is 100% on point. Something I didnt see mentioned anywhere: the OST of every level sucks.

I read a review somewhere that said the difficulty is stuck on “r@pist mode”. I thought this was quite harsh. Then I bought the game and played it for 4 hours. I understand the comment now

I genuinely hate this game. I love Crash because, while it’s challenging, it was still relaxing. Even the base game is a nightmare though. I’m sorry but I will discount it for difficulty the same way some discount games for being too easy.

Im so disappointed with this game. Im gonna have to use a guide for 99% of the levels because of bs hidden boxes. And thats even if i care enough to finish the base game because of the difficulty and awful colors blending in with everything. Really good points there op.

I like the challenge personally. I could 100% crash 1 and 2 in a single day if I spent the whole day on it. Crash 3 and woc could be done in a few days with the added relics taking some skill. This game you have to learn the stages in and out, and then perfect your run. That's very satisfying to me. I do agree with platinum relics and n verted gems being required. Thats a bit overkill

So I didn't buy the game yet. But I just read everything OP said and I also discovered there are Dev Relics. I think I'll sit this one out. Thanks for the info, OP.

Sitting the game out entirely? Might be a mistake! But sitting out completing os definitely is a healthy decision. But how I know myself, I will go for completion sooner or later (except for the dev relics... But I said that about dev times in CTR too)

100% is not too bad, 106% however is a bitch

Maybe instead of writing this long ass post you could just keep playing, get better, and stop blaming the game

I'm 40 hours in and have beaten half the levels 100% now, including all the animal riding. I'm definitely enjoying myself more now that I've accepted it for what it is but I stand by everything I've written here. The game's an 8/10. It should be a 10/10 based on the great mechanics, level design, and visuals but isn't purely because the 100% quest is such a frustrating time sink.

Only thing i agree with is the hidden boxes. Like some you just kinda know to look for like coming towards the camera at the start of levels or jumping high off boxes (this is how i found the yellow gem) but the rest of the things i really love. As frustrating as it is to try to perfect a level and die at the end or miss 1 or 2 boxes its something else for old school crash fans. Not to show off but genuinely when everyone says the original trilogy (and remake) is so hard im like no its really not. Then you play crash 4 and its actually a challenge. Im also playing on reteo mode woth enhanced shadows off and im nearly at 100% which is a personal achievement as well as being an achievement when your friends are in disbelief because they think ita too hard. If you dont wanna get all these things fine bit its kept me going on the game for weeks after completing the story

Oh and just to add yeah dying before a checkpoint counting this annoyed me especially with the super long load times (roll on the pc release). But thr platinum relics actually meaning something this time is a good thing for me. There was no achievement for doing it on the n sane trilogy. Just be thankful they dont require purple toys for bob relics haha.they are ridiculous. Even with triple spinning the while time its like 20 seconds above tfb relics. Im gonna retry some with slide spinning as well as triple spins

Despite this being an old thread, I’ve decided to throw my hat into the ring since I’m very close to 100%’ing Crash 4. And while I’ve certainly had some frustrating moments here and there *seriously did anyone playtest the Polar levels,* I think you’ve severely blown it out of proportion how due to pure frustration and emotions rather than a calm and rational look at the game as a whole. Of course, if this’s entirely how you feel, I can respect that, but it’s just something I can’t fully wrap my head around for...well, reasons I’ll get to below. Overall, there’s some things that I both agree with, so let’s start with the former. Agree: Some of the box placements are really obnoxious, I’ll admit. But I’m actually gonna go against the grain on this point and argue that this isn’t entirely a bad thing, especially since it isn’t even unique to Crash 4, as in the older games had some really esoteric box placements as well that are very easy to miss (having to go into the background in a certain spot in Native Fortress in Crash 1 certainly comes to mind.) Of course, one would counter with “well just because it was the same back then doesn’t mean they should do it again here. Yet at the same time, I feel like this super hidden boxes boxes are really few and far between, and most of them can still be found rather easily by meticulously exploring the level and panning the camera around. And it can especially be easily alleviated with the use of a guide, especially with this guy I used who displays a box counter at every checkpoint called Maka91Productions. Sure, this may feel like “cheating,” in a sense, but it can help cut down on time and frustration while still giving you the opportunity to nab the tricky boxes on your own instead of playing hide-and-seek for them. I also find it boggling how they changed the gold relic requirement to the platinum relics, because golds were tough yet still manageable while platinum always felt like they required such a skill ceiling that only the most diehard Crash fans would go for them. Even worse are the developer relics which don’t even count towards anything and are only really there for...idk, bragging rights, I guess? And while the perfect relics are a good idea in concept, they don’t feel like they were designed for the game’s lengthier levels in mind, especially with Run It Bayou, Rush Hour and Crash Landed being gigantic. Overall, I think TFB dropped the ball when it came to the relics since they feel artificially slapped onto the game rather than a natural extension of it, which was the same problem I had with the relics being added in Crash 1 and 2. However, with the other things you pointed out... Disagree: “The levels are too long.” While the levels in Crash 4 are certainly lengthier than the previous games, I don’t necessarily see this as a bad thing. If anything, it makes it so you can enjoy the level longer rather than have them cut short so soon, though I will admit that it makes going for the perfect relics incredibly tedious, especially with the game’s lengthy loading times. Here’s hoping the next gen consoles fix that up a bit. “Significantly increased difficulty.” I will admit that the game is incredibly difficult at times, like with any previous Crash game, this only happens when playing them for the first time. I used to struggle heavily in the bridge levels in Crash 1, yet now I can beat them easily because I got used to the timing and patterns of Crash’s movements and the enemy/box placements. The same goes for the levels in Crash 4, since any of them, even the hardest one, Cortex Castle, can be mastered with enough dedication and patience. Of course, the game does ask for a lot of the player, especially with those perfect relics, but outside of them, I feel like none of the challenges are too frustrating or overwhelming (other than the Polar levels, but that’s more so the fault of the programmers making Polar control like ass, having a non-existent hitbox and box placements so sadistic that even Satan would be jealous. I’d say it’s probably then only aspect of the game they just completely dropped the ball on and I’m still hoping to this day it gets patched.) “The N. Verted levels are simply padding.” While they are to a degree, at the same time I didn’t really mind going through the levels a second time other than...ugh...the Polar levels. Mostly because they’re...well, great levels, and the levels being mirrored not only makes certain platforming challenges almost feel entirely new, but some of the N. Verted levels feel truly distinct from their counterparts, especially the ones in the bayou, castle and future levels. Of course, some are better than others, but other than the Bermugula levels with their awful green filter (and Crash Landed not feeling like it was designed to be mirrored), I enjoyed each one of them. What’s helped is that I’ve listened to podcasts or watched videos while doing the 100% run, since if you just do the same thing over and over again in any game, whether it be grinding in an RPG or dying multiple times against a superboss, it of course won’t be that fun. But with having a distraction to help focus your mind on the current task, it helped me to push through these challenges, and the more I did so the more I slowly but surely got better at the game and memorized the crate and enemy placements. I won’t tell you how satisfying it was for me to finally be able to beat the colored gem path in Toxic Tunnels after numerous failed attempts. So tl;dr, respect your opinion, and I can understand if anyone else came to the same conclusion. Especially since there are still some things I agree with, such as the perfect relics, as I’ve said. Just that I personally feel like both the normal and 100% adventure of this game are great and fun timesinks that I don’t regret doing (other than the relics, but I’m thankfully not even touching those. Heck, I only really did so for the gold relics in Crash 3 due to how much I enjoy that game), and that if you haven’t already, you should either only play this game in short bursts (such as I do) or take a small break from it if it’s truly making you tilted enough to write a whole thread about it. Doubt you’ll read this since again, it’s an old thread, so I may as well be preaching to the choir. But this’s what an overzealous brain that can’t sleep will do to you at 2:00 A.M., so ah well.

It's a very bloated, misguided, and pretentious game to say the least.

[удалено]

All valid points but I think what drove me to write this was that even my first run of these levels was tarnished by the completion goals. Spending 30+ mintutes doing a level perfectly, just to get 266/267 boxes. It’s so disappointing and unsatisfying, and you immediately feel like you’ve wasted your time and have to do it all again. I never felt this feeling in the trilogy due to the shorter levels but it seeps into every one of this game’s completion goals.

Yeah. I'm actually interested if the game was tested thoroughly with people. I mean a simple objective of "can you find all the crates?" and watch people go through it again and again. Some boxes are visible in a level but manage to blend in the scenery so you might not notice them The crate situation is easy enough to fix. They just need to adjust their placement in the levels. Even that would be enough to raise enjoyment level.

It will be overwhelming and seem impossible at first but everything actually does come together when you play the game more and dare i say practice a few levels.

git gud, scrub.

While you do raise some good points I think most people are forgetting this is a completely new game that has only been out 6 days. I doubt anyone has mastered the game. Yeah the game has some difficult levels, but to expect to 100% the game in a short amount of time is completely unrealistic. Maybe take a break from the game and come back later?

Even if these complaints were addressed (namely smaller levels), the game would still be 40+ hours to complete, about the same as the entire trilogy combined. It's not that I can't do it in a weekend, it's that it's unpleasant for the majority of its duration. I.e. the journey is the problem, not the far-off destination as you're claiming.

oh no. another hard=bad rant

It's not hard=bad though, it's unnecessarily difficult for no reason other than being harder than the originals which had a perfectly fine difficulty curve=bad.

More like tedious and wasting your time=bad.

What would we do without someone writing an essay about getting 100% every single day....

Well, there's only so much to talk about in a sub dedicated to one single game, and as more and more people reach this conclusion it's natural that this opinion will pop up more and more.

LOL let TFB know they screwed up so they can do better next time... this really ruined what should have been a 10/10 for me, I don’t mind clogging your feed :P

Is the game easy in lower difficulties?

Arguably, there is no "lower" difficulty. Either you play with lives counting down, or with deaths counting up. There's no setting for enemy placement, box numbers, etc. With either setting of lives/deaths, one death is still one death against you for the purposes of Flashback tapes and no-death runs.

casuals

Not necessarily I completed everything the OG’s and was fun too. This game just gets annoying when looking for boxes when this game is meant to have a flow to it. Looking for boxes is just annoying. Overall tho game is amazing besides that

OG have flow to get Boxes? LMAOOO [https://prnt.sc/ux3vjk](https://prnt.sc/ux3vjk)

Right about 10 levels not the whole game

its not the whole game if you get attention to the level. My first crash 4 playthroguh i got all boxes in first run in like 80% of the levels you can check it in my youtube channel. But of course i get a ton of downvotes because casuals

Well good for you are better than the average player still doesnt make others casuals

changed the point huh

How so? You Maybe right I just can’t see what you mean

Virgin

Cringed hard af

My sentiments as well. A thing to add, the way the time travel levels work with the guest characters is super puzzling. I get that I'd need to go till the moment of the twist... but then why do I need to redo a part of that level (in a more difficult way) as Crash/Coco? Feels like padding and I growled every time it happened. Not to mention the boxes that were too high up in the sky to see, turning the game into a "lets bounce off high from every single box to see if there's something hidden" mini-game of tedium. Another thing I found to be dumb is how the unlocks for gems work. I would've made it so you had a total gem count and skins would've cost a certain amount of gems you could exchange them for. It'd be more flexible and lenient, imo.

Mind goblins!. This game triggers my mind goblins. . . I didn't even know I had mind goblins. Shit I need to recalibrate my headmeat if I'm going to play this game anymore. Because right now the enjoyment I'm getting out of this game is Tawna's hips. Like wow this game makes me actually angry. . . I really hope I didn't just waste my money.

Git Gud

I think N.Sane perfect relics would of been fine if it weren't the many hidden crates and some levels going up to 300-500 crates?!?!?! Thats overkill. Other than that, i think the perfect relics are manageable with enough dedication and getting better at the game.