This sequence of events displays one of my key dislikes of The Last Faith, it's inconsistent enemy introductions.
Unfortunately, because the game has no in game bestiary, I do not know the official name of the enemies despite them introducing them with a name whenever you defeat one for the past time. It's not their name that's a problem, but what they do and how they are introduced.
First, I will call the enemy in the first picture the 'Flame Whipper'. He is an enemy that will throw a chain weapon at you in front of you before leaping back. The area between the chain and his new position now becomes engulfed in a fiery floor of flames. This enemy is annoying to deal with but it at least introduces it to you in an are where you have space to see what he does and learn his pattern.
In a later room, you can se one of these enemies below (picture 2) and I decided that I would merely jump over the platforms to avoid a confrontation. I would have to be fast though, as the platforms were crumble platforms. It wasn't until I was making my last jump that I realised that...no I had fucked up, the game designers have deliberately and callously fucked me over.
This was my first ever introduction to the canon enemy, and he is set up in such a way that if you jump across the platforms normally, his canon shot will send you spiralling into the depths to face friendly Mr Flame Whipper.
By doing this, the game breaks a fundamental rule of game design: introduce enemies in an environment where you can see what they can do and how they effect you, the player, and the world around you in no so much as a safe environment, but separate from other challenges.
Let's take Super Mario Bros world 1-1 as a key example; the first enemy you encounter is the iconic Goomba. You encounter one as you are passing under the starting blocks for the level. This forces you so that if you jump you likely hit the blocks and rebound onto the Goomba showing that you can defeat a Goomba by stomping on it, if the jump is mistimed, then you learn to not let the Goomba touch you or you die.
A few pipes over you encounter a Goomba between pipes, showing you that they move until hitting an obstacle and reversing direction. You also have the high ground on the Goomba making it easy prey for you, Obi-Wan would be proud.
Next you encounter not one but two Goomba's, this is the game escalating things because you now know everything you need to know about the Goomba as an enemy. To the point that you next encounter them on floating platforms, and then they are used to introduce the next enemy, the Koopa by showing the the Koopa's shell can be used to defeat the Goombas.
The Last Faith does not introduce some of its more frustrating enemies in a fair way that allows players to get to grips with that enemies mechanics before dropping them into complex situations. If the Last Faith were a racing game it would be telling you "Why are we bothering with speeds 1 to 6 when we can just shove you immediately up to speed 7 from the get go." Or if it was a particularly pushy parent it would be like teaching a child to ride a bike, by bringing them to the BMX championships, you don't need training wheels, you don't even need lessons, you're going to suffer failure, humiliation and suffering and if you've not learned to ride a bike by the end of it, then it's your fault, the fact I am a shitty parent has nothing to do with it.
