These Volcanic Panic levels are pure sadism

christinewupp

Who is in charge here and responsible for these levels?

No, don't answer that, I know the answer.

This is the gem I'm encountering just now:

And just before you say: But there's only three colours, so there will be lots of cascades…. here is the picture after the first move:

Let me think….. how do I get those keys exactly? The fish you say? No, they go for bubble gum.

So, twenty-two moves later:

Such fun!

christinewupp

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3565592#Comment_3565592

There are NO cascades most times I've played these levels. Not just few, but practically none. However, when the game wants you to pass there are some telltale signs and some cascades.

In previous boss level events using one party popper would always guarantee a pass. This time I think we have to pay. I have made an interesting discovery this morning:

I think the game wants us to pay to pass on our first attempt.

I am saying this because I had two colour bombs side by side for a combo, which is luck written into the board. I got some chances to create special candies and this looks quite hopeful:

There are two opportunities here, the wrap + stripe and the fish + wrap combo. I played the wrap+stripe but was left short. I decided to pay for this offer:

The question I ask is: Why is the first offer 7 extra moves? Does this mean this will be enough? As usual of course we go into this blindly as we cannot see what's underneath the banner. When I do pay I see this:

This looks to be a match winning opportunity. I got to this point:

Now oddly I note that the game is suggesting I use a lollipop here. This is weird, since I still have three moves left, and I do think this is probably winnable in three moves. The game must "think" that this is my last move? I can see a better move, however I decided to test what happens if I do use the lollipop as suggested. I used it on the last bubble gum. I was dumbfounded:

There is a winning cascade if we play the one move the game wants us to play. This means that this level was passable either with 4 extra moves plus one lollipop or (probably) with 7 extra moves. My guess is that other players might have been offered 5 moves to complete this level, perhaps by watching two ads or hitting the 5 on the dreaded wheel. They would have then needed to use a lollipop on the last bubble gum as instructed.