Well, the mirror maze is still there in the sequel, but the solution is different. The model train set was a PITA to implement – all those ASCII diagrams – so it has been replaced with something entirely different but not entirely unrelated. That thing with all the bamboo poles, though, I don’t even remember what I called it, has collapsed into a pile of sticks since the first episode.
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Wait, where you could go down using a rope on a bamboostick but then the stick broke and you had to find the long way back? Or something remotely like that?
Yeah, I cheated for that. (Thank you @David_Welbourn )
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Bumping this review because THE SEQUEL IS IN IFCOMP THIS YEAR.
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I saw! Very cool!
I started on Ballerina, oooh, last year? I was looking for a big, puzzly game with a large map. I consulted a walkthrough early on and found that the first two puzzles were things I wouldn’t have figured out on my own (I understood the idea behind getting all the screens to show the TV show, but couldn’t work out why this particular solution worked; I would never have guessed that the code for the electricity would be in base-6 numbering). Once these bits were done, the map opened right up, perhaps too much, as I felt a bit overwhelmed: I like maps that get bigger and bigger as you play, but maybe more incrementally.
That said, I do keep thinking that I will go back to it one day: a couple of people have described it as a very atmospheric game, which is always a major attraction for me. 1960s shopping centres have always struck me as deeply unatmospheric, but who knows where the game might go? I might also give the sequel a try, and see how I find that.
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According to @mathbrush’s review ( The Only Possible Prom Dress - Details (ifdb.org)), the sequel is similar in its huge goody puzzlyness, but is also more player-friendly with in-game help systems.
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