The escalation in difficulty in hard mode from level 17 to 18 is insane. The 1st 17 levels can be done in your sleep and levels 18-20 are basically impossible to get 3 stars on.
Why am I a substitute "for poor performance lately" in international matches. I get a 10.0 rating off the bench every game and they still won't start me. The Cook Islands must have a surplus of guys who just scored 50 for Real Madrid.
It would be nice to be able to continue at the level you failed in Arcade mode. Once you get get to level 20, it's kinda boring to work your way back up there to try and beat the tough levels again. The first 15 or so levels are pretty easy to beat every time once you figure it out and it just takes so long to get back to the fun levels.
Personally, I would enjoy the game more if it were paced a little bit faster in terms of how long it takes to progress through star levels and if the Casino portion of the game was simply removed. Not really interested in playing blackjack every few matches so I have enough money to buy shoes...
Rank 7 is actually more challenging than Rank 8...mostly because Rank 8 is just so ridiculous that nearly every normal human being is going to have to look up some words and keep restarting until they roll the "qua" prefix. One you do that tho, it's not a challenge at all. Doing the "wk" challenge legitimately was actually more fun/difficult/time consuming.
I beat a dragon without a divine elixer. I used the Flamberge and Avalon armor and a health restore...in fairness it was during a run which a had already beat a dragon using the Divine Elixer.