It bugs me when there is an obvious path forward, but a single undiscovered tile (or a trap) causes my character to take a path all the way around the level. Share your ideas for fixes.
Perhaps let players configure some number such that the game will never plot a path for your character longer than that without first getting your confirmation.
"The path you've chosen is longer than N steps, are you sure?"
And then I also feel this needs to be very easily toggleable. Like a persistent UI button. I'd have it on when exploring and off when backtracking, and those two activities are back and forth all game.
Relevant screenshot below. The entire level is explored, and this damn piece of grass sent my character haywire then I trapped at the X. This kind of thing has happened to me on much later levels and messed me up good.
In the Depths, I would set this number to something like 2 for safety. I can't count how many times a misstap has gotten me zapped, chased, and then pincer-attacked by some second enemy in the room behind me. But then I'd want to toggle it off to run back to an alchemy pot or whatever.
While this is 'obvious' to a human, the computer doesn't (and I think, shouldn't) make the judgement call that the path is continuous.
That being said, I think that when you plot a long course, your character should move the first few tiles slowly, to give the player time to react if the character is going in the opposite direction. As is, you have to panic tap the screen to get the character to stop, and even a second of delay can mean 50 tiles ran, which can be punishing in a game like this.
Or just get good lol
the computer [shouldn't] make the judgement call that the path is continuous.
I agree!
character should move the first few tiles slowly
I think that might feel weird. To see your character move one step in the wrong direction, and then another after a delay. I don't know that you'd realize what's happening very quickly. Currently, it's the sudden rapid sound of footsteps that makes this mistake so obvious. I think odd movement isn't necessarily obvious right away, and while you're confused about it for a second, you take another step, and then another. I think that would often still end up with taking 3-4 steps by accident and that's often pretty bad.
I think a confirmation would be clearer and safer. We already have them for jumping in a pit.
I hate to be that guy, but just... remember how to move and where to click in these situations. It happened a few times to me also, but I view it as my fault, same with misclicking on the message about falling, same with setting myself on fire with WoFireblast and plethora of other mishaps. Also, assuming your "safe way/distance" is set to ~5, it would get kinda tedious when you need to traverse a lot of space. Throw two enemies in the way, and suddenly you have three message boxes to click through. In a short time, you would develop a habit of just clicking them off as quickly as possible, not paying much attention to them, which would result in the same problem.
Rather than a popup, perhaps as suggested use the "arrow to continue moving" when path length is much larger than direct distance ignoring obstacles, and show a short trace or arrow to indicate the plotted path. Do this before a single step is taken, either tapping the target location or the continue arrow executes the path