So, the most basic debug technique of all times is echoing information to see what the values are and which logic is executing…
Except that this.say() takes whooping 1s and while you are busy talking, monsters are busy dismantling you.
I am not sure if it takes so long because there are levels that depend on it?
I would suggest adding this.think() method that will take no time and won’t be visible to opponents.
Our real solution to this is to use the time-travel debugger that comes up when you hover over anything. Except I disabled it because it’s slightly buggy and definitely confusing to beginners. I think the real TODO here is to re-enable it, maybe tied to some sort of Programmaticon or other item, and explain how to use it, maybe with a few bugfixes.
I think I saw that in older level section… Felt a little glitchy indeed, but would be very helpful once it’s perfected. 
For now I wrapped all talking in conditionals so I can toggle it via single var on top.