Steady 1 - Penumbra Nice level to start off the new Lemmings Faithful update. However, I disagree with Armani that the talisman is easy, as the skill restrictions mean getting up the level is much harder. It's possible that I might had missed a far easier way to, though. IMo, it's a difficult talisman not only because of the skill restrictions, but also you're racing to stop both hatches from splatting with the very limited amount of floaters, and then later on you need to get the preplaced blockers who are all placed very high in the level down safely without the floaters. At least in my solution I didn't have any spare floaters for them. Then there's getting them all the floaters back up to the exit afterwards, which I've already explained is quite difficult when you aren't allowed neither climbers nor builders! All of these things combined is what makes me think the talisman makes it difficult for the first level of the new pack update However, the next level is much worse in this regard IMO (see below)

Steady 2 - Welcome to the World of Tomorrow! Ok, this is quite possibly the hardest level of the entire Steady rank when it comes to the talisman, as this took me several days over several sessions before I finally succeeded. As such, I did post-commentary after I attempted the talisman for apparently 2 hours Several things make this a very hard talisman: it requires some advanced maneuvers, such as turning a laser with a blocker, but I think the most critical one is interrupting the laser at the right point in order to make a turnaround point, and to do the latter you need to shoot it at the right spot, at a point where there's a slight rise in the terrain at the pipe join. Before I found this solution, I kept running out of lasers, though I suppose the visual terrain clutter in the pipes being a clue as to the blocker placements should had lead me to the laser/blocker trick much sooner. Even after the tip Icho gave of being short on shimmiers, I still struggled a lot with the level, eventually getting to the point of also being short with shimmiers, until I remember the laser turnaround mentioned earlier.

All of these facts combined make this talisman very difficult, especially for only the second level of the new Lemmings Faithful update. Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice talisman with no more than 1 walker limit, but IMO this is quite bad when it's a really difficult talisman so early in the new update. At least when it comes to less experienced players, especially those who go for talismans and may likely rage quit when attempting it. You can even hear my rage slowly rising from time to time in my LP, though again I was a dummy with not realizing the laser/blocker interaction sooner (it's not new to me, as I've seen it before in Lemmings Uncharted, for example). In fairness, it's not easy to spot where to use it. Similarly, where the walker skill you're allowed to use is completely unintuitive. For a long time, I kept thinking it was used for a blocker somewhere at the top instead of the one who turns the laser at the bottom.

My solution also uses a lot of precise skill assignments, and quite honestly the steel blocks make the execution more annoying than it needs to be. In particular, there's very little room for error when freeing the upper left blocker, as if you remove all of the lower pipe terrain to its left then the ceiling is too high for the shimmier to be able to grab on. Consider lowering the terrain to allow for more room for error there so that there's more pixels available to start shimmying along the ceiling in that area.

Despite all I've mentioned, it is a great level and all, especially the talisman, but the latter alone is what makes this way too difficult for just the second level. It really feels more of a Turbulent rank level instead of a Steady rank level IMO. I think there can be a much easier Freezer graphic set introduction level as a result to replace this one. However, if doing this, then it needs to be with a Dexter level, as the entire Steady rank is all Dexter levels. So, if this level is to remain in the Steady rank, I would definitely move it to very near the end of the rank. The one that probably comes to my mind is swapping Steady 9 with this one, especially as it at least introduces the various Freezer Lemming sprites and the player learns that the blocker one is just as if an actual blocker is there to turn them while the others are objects that Lemmings can pass over with no problems. Plus the Steady 9 talisman reminds me of Simple 3

It's just like the brothers have said, we level makers are often not great at judging the difficulty of our own content! I should know, because last year, I upranked a level in my upcoming Lemmings Memories pack as a result of a private tester's feedback and because I completely underestimated its difficulty!

Steady 3 - Sweet Tooth Much easier talisman than the previous level, though the hardest part was just knowing where to place the blocker and then being able to free it or any and all blockers used. Luckily only one is needed. Nice trick of fencing below while platforming with the worker to free the blocker! Been a while since I've seen this one. Also a nice introductory Cake level!

Steady 4 - Serpent Shrine I'm surprised Armani thought the talisman here was tricky. I didn't think it was at all, though one of my earlier attempts comes pretty close to achieving it but not quite. I think my critical error was climbing and then digging down the pillar on the left side. Once I realized a much better way to do that, then it came easily to me. Another great introductory level, this time for the Oasis graphic set

Steady 5 - Dark Mire Yup, absolutely no problem at all with the talisman. You do the multi-tasking correctly and it'll be a piece of cake Still a nice level here introducing the Grim graphic set, though it's quite minimal since there's plenty of things we haven't been introduced to here, such as the various traps, several of which are quite disturbing and graphic

Steady 6 - Hey Presto One of my favorites of the rank! This has an excellent puzzle element of figuring out how to get the Lemmings to the correct teleporter in order to get to the exit. That element kind of reminds me of that no skills level in I believe Lemmings Plus Omega 2 I like how the teleporters are all labeled with a symbol so you always know exactly which receiver each leads to. Nicely done, and it was especially fun to figure out the talisman where neither builders nor walkers are allowed!

Steady 7 - Lost in the Desert Not too difficult, even with the talisman, though I was a dummy and was on this level a bit longer than I needed to be due to having not figured out to get under the needle trap sooner and also with completely forgetting that bashers aren't allowed for the talisman! It's still pretty fun to try and figure out how to get around the builder supply shortage! Great level

Steady 8 - Lost in the Dessert Another favorite of mine of the rank! It was really fun to figure out how to get 2 Lemmings to each of the 5 exits scattered all around the level. This level I would say is a great example of one where while sliders are normally a curse when playing and solving, they can be a blessing too depending on the design. Here, I took advantage of this by building so that the others cannot follow the lead Lemming! Well done with this level, I really enjoyed it! I especially like how all the balloon exits are different colors too!

Steady 9 - Frozen Hearts As mentioned, I think this can do nicely with swapping places with Steady 2, especially as the level's talisman is much easier than the former's. Without the talisman, both levels are likely the same difficulty, though here the sliders proved to be a nuisance at the very end compared to the previous level! Still, I generally like talismans that prohibit any or all constructive skills a lot! That being said, it's still a challenging level with figuring out the route the crowd needs to take and dealing with potential splat falls as a result to obtain the talisman. This definitely increases the difficulty, though again the fact that the talisman is just like Simple 3's does make this a pretty suitable swap with Steady 2 IMO. Again, just due to how insane the difficulty of the latter's talisman is, as without the talismans all the Lemmings Faithful levels are quite easy

Steady 10 - Chamber of Horrors Nice level to finish off the rank and not as challenging as it looks, even with the talisman, especially as I've managed to best both the save and total skills records of the talisman! Yea, this graphic set is definitely not kid friendly or appropriate at all, with the gruesome and graphic displays of how the various traps kill the Lemming                    

Turbulent 1 - Can I Have A Peppermint? Somewhat difficult to start off the rank, though in the end my solution seems a bit hackish and brute forced, especially with the way I got everyone down safely past the splat pad by digging on the builder staircase to lower the height so that it's safe, including stopping the builder himself early enough. They just barely managed to fall a bit past the splat pad. I'm guessing the intention is to have everyone get to the glider skill adder, though I'm not sure if there's enough builders to be able to do so. Still a nice level here

Turbulent 2 - Lemmings of the Caribbean Nice reference to the film Pirates of the Caribbean, though surprisingly I have not seen the film! Anyway, not difficult in any way even with the talisman, though it got trickier as the level went on, when I found myself struggling with how to not use more builders than you're allowed for it. I love the treasure chests for buttons to unlock the exit, which is a ship rising out of the water! Only thing I'm a bit iffy on is whether it might be a better idea to make it more obvious that it's the exit, which in that case perhaps it's better to first have a level with the ship exit not "locked" before introducing the locked variant In any case, nice first level by tan x which I enjoyed playing and solving! Also, didn't realize the kraken before Nicely done, and if you want another great example of one in a Lemmings level, take a look at Pieuw's level in Fiat Lem!

Turbulent 3 - The Belfry Sorry, not a fan of this level due to how excessive the repetition of skill assignments is, though admittedly I found the repeated cloning of the glider to get higher with the updraft in the middle to reach the bell button to unlock the exit a cool concept Talisman luckily isn't too difficult or tight at all given the amount of cloners to allow for a comfortable margin. Nice level design!

Turbulent 4 - Sugar Rush Oh no, a zombie level It's the type of level I tend to struggle a lot with when playing and solving them. In the end, I spent much longer than was needed due to not realizing that getting zombies off the Lemmings' tail is much simpler than I thought. It just comes down to there's a critical sweet spot of making a splat fall for the zombies and then temporarily making it safe for the crowd and then making it safe by digging at the top and cancelling with a shimmier, and as long as they're sufficiently ahead of the trailing zombie then they're all make it to the exit before they get infected. This of course required that the Lemmings are tightly bunched up to make it easier. Nice level nevertheless and I forgot to mention it in my LP, but I think making it clearer that it's an anti-splat pad on the right side is a good idea

I also didn't realize that the level doesn't terminate properly even after you nuke the level. I'm guessing it's due to how there are still zombies to spawn. I could had sworn it did before in an earlier NL version. I'm going to have to check with the level from Lemmings Plus VI.

Turbulent 5 - Lem Academy of Science & Energy Research One of my favorites of the rank! This was really fun to figure out and puzzle my way through to obtain the talisman. I really like the part with getting a pioneer to go over the top of the level to get to the slider skill adder That's one of the hardest parts of the level but one of the best solution elements IMO It's also hard to figure out how to get to the upper left button and the slider back to safety later on, as the talisman just requires a save all, particularly since only the slider will be able to reach the button that's almost right above the exit. Well done with this level Dexter!

Turbulent 6 - An Omen of Doom Wow, what a difficult level, but only because again I tend to struggle a lot with zombie levels It really isn't as difficult as it appears, even with the talisman. I spent longer on the level than I needed to only because I didn't realize sooner to send 2 climbers over to deal with the zombies Before I came to that realization, I kept trying to figure out various ways to try and avoid the impending zombie threat if they try and come over via the portal. It also took me a while to figure out that only a digger is needed to get everyone to the exit, as a basher isn't necessary if you dig at the right spot. It took me a while to get the timing right to platform the gap up so that no one slips by while the gap is being sealed up. I wonder if there's a much easier way to do this than the way I did it Guess I'll have to check tan x's solution here I really like the added skeleton on the far right! Certainly adds to the already spooky atmosphere of the Grim graphic set!

Turbulent 7 - Bumbly Beach Bazaar Wow, what a beast of a level to play and solve, given the very chaotic level design with all the various skill adder objects and neutralizer/de-neutralizer in the level. It apparently took me almost 2 hours before I finally succeeded here! Because of the various objects, it makes it very difficult to keep track of what skills each Lemming has. There was apparently one attempt where I missed one drowning and hence ruining the talisman attempt Thank goodness for being able to assign a hotkey that one can press in order to see what permanent skills the Lemmings have Apparently for neutralizers it doesn't display so in the skill panel area, so you'll need to look at the shadowy skill icons above the neutral Lemming instead.

Anyway, there's a lot going on here, though I'm wondering if the level was much harder than it needed to be due to not using much of the blockers I like the touch of the pirate ship trap close to the exit Regarding the talisman, despite walkers not being allowed in contrast to Steady 2's, which allowed you no more than 1 walker, it's luckily not much harder. The level itself is already pretty difficult even if you allow yourself walkers because of the chaotic level design as already mentioned.

After some time, despite the overwhelming level design, it seems clear that one needs to have all Lemmings use the red teleporter in order to get the swimmer and slider skills needed to reach the exit later on. Everything else is irrelevant, though some of the other ones will be necessary in order to reach some of the buttons to unlock the exit. This does mean at least one Lemming will be a neutral. However, you do have skills to be able to avoid the neutralizer in the middle of the level some of the time.

Sounds Armani had the same idea as me initially that the glider skill adder is a "trap" that needs to be avoided. However, looking back, I don't think it's a trap per se. I think it's possible to actually use it and still be able to solve the level. I just need to check to see if it's possible for the gliders to land to the right of the pirate ship trap and be able to reach the exit afterwards. It would require shooting the laser at the right spot so that the sliders go out to the right at end of the laser tunnel.

I'm also wondering if it's possible to get the disarmer to be able to disarm the gun trap by guiding it to that part of the level later on after getting the bottom left button. I'm also wondering if swimmers can disarm traps, though judging by what Plodderuk wrote in their feedback it seems not. I have forgotten whether or not swimmers are able to disable traps, and it looks like they can't, so I shall remember and keep this in mind!

For the key buttons, they currently use the pickup sound, which can easily be mistaken for a pickup being collected, especially as I'm so used to that being the sound of pickup skills. Perhaps it's better to use a sound unique to buttons that only buttons make?

Turbulent 8 - Ice Nine Kind of a breather level which was certainly a welcome sight and especially needed after I struggled a lot with the previous two levels I did run into digger shortage problems, but only because I didn't realize that it's not necessary to use the digger at the start for the crowd to go through the bottom. It's not possible to get them back up to the exit later on anyway Sounds like I did it very different from either Armani or Plodderuk with handling the pre-assigned shimmiers, as I released them all with a walker skill, which is all you're allowed for the talisman. The challenge then was to figure out how to get them all down safely without running out of diggers. Luckily, there are enough lasers to use as delays so that they don't slip by the digger when digging inside a laser tunnel. I especially like the part of lasering through the OWWs to both release the crowd and to reach the exit. Still a nice level here by tan x!

Turbulent 9 - River Styx I will probably have to agree with Armani here that this is quite possibly the hardest level of the new Lemmings Faithful update, though it's either this or Turbulent 7 IMO. From what it sounds like based on what Armani and Plodderuk have said, it's possible to race against the neutral so that he doesn't collect the upper right button I didn't do that for my solution, as I just avoided the upper left button until the very end, and then once the neutral zombies were disposed of, I was able to reach the former locked exit safely with the ones that are still able to reach it. With some optimization, I probably could had saved way more, but by that point a lot of the Lemmings are too close to one another to be able to platform up the gap in the bottom right so that plenty of them slipped out before it was sealed off again. I like the concept of the blocker neutral zombie infecting the other neutrals after the neutral blocker exits after the hidden balloon exit is unlocked. I didn't realize that was hidden balloon exit until after I had gotten both of the buttons though. I was wondering what that "1" was!

Also from Dexter's feedback to another user, reaching the unlocked exit in the bottom left is possible?

Turbulent 10 - A Tale of Two Cities Wow, what a great level to finish off the new Lemmings Faithful update! I definitely agree with tan x's choice of this being the final level. Luckily it's a pretty easy level to solve, even with the time attack requirement of the talisman, though of course the level becomes a significant challenge if going for it. I immensely enjoyed playing and solving this level, and it was very satisfying to obtain the time attack talisman here! It's quite an overwhelming level due to the huge size and the various bell buttons scattered everywhere in the level that need to be collected in order to unlock all 4 exits, where they all have an exit limit of 50 each. The huge amount of Lemmings for the level especially means that maxing out the RR is mandatory in order to even have a chance of beating the level in under 2.5 minutes. Same thing with multi-tasking both sides. In an earlier attempt, I was too slow by about 5 seconds or so, but in my success I finished with 8 seconds to spare. Seems the key here is to bring the crowds closer to the exits and make a new holding pit for them so that it's easier to tell when to release them and be able to meet the time requirement.

By Armani's remark of finishing under 2 minutes even, that sounds very insane!

Speaking of 2 minutes, I went back to the Hyper rank finisher of Casualemmings to see if I can obtain the talisman and luckily I was able to do it with not much difficulty. So, I would have to disagree with nin10doadict that 2 minutes is an "unfair" time limit, which the level originally had.

Some nitpicks I have here, which are the bell buttons currently not making any sound when collected/pressed, which therefore makes it impossible to tell if one already got to it earlier. Even more problematic when they disappear completely afterwards. Finally, it's not obvious that they're buttons they need to be push/collected to unlock the exit.                           

Hidden terrain surrounding the Marble exit is a bit much and unnecessary, though I don't see players ever running into the problem of being a a skill short to access it, so it's probably fine. I kind of see this as "going all out" as much as possible on the level given that it's the Paradise rank finisher Plus you're not the only one who's done this. GigaLem was infamous for this in his really old level packs when it came to the L1 Marble exit. Hence my remark to you of pulling a GigaLem

I only realized just now that the bomber and miner are interchangeable in the solution. Also, the building later on is probably a bit too tight and precise, though I suppose this is somewhat of a minor nitpick on my end

Blocker to turn the digger to build at the bottom to catch the others after bombing away the thin floor.

the bombers are pretty precise here, especially with clearing the snowman arm for the climbers, though I believe you should see timed bombers in my replays, so admittedly that makes it far harder!

I thought that the blocker turning the builder wouldn't work here as I thought the Lemmings wouldn't be able to follow the builder up the staircase. It's only because I remember this being super difficult to pull off in SuperLemmini and/or I think I even remember doing it in a certain direction isn't possible while in the other it is. I think this has been fixed for RetroLemmini so that the blocker/builder should be equally possible in both directions now, though it's still pretty precise, as the success of following up the staircase seems to be very dependent on whether the builder brick shifts over significantly the other way, and to achieve this one must block at a very specific time to turn the builder at a certain point in its animation

Toolkit 1 - Twisting by the Pool Nice level to start off the rank, and still not too difficult even with the talisman.

Toolkit 2 - Fire Escape Even easier than the previous one due to a much larger skillset, though navigating around or through the clutter in the middle can be a bit tricky, especially with some of the fire traps. Even the 100% save isn't that much harder

Toolkit 3 - El Scorcho A bit harder than either of the previous two levels, with the skillset being quite restrictive if going for the save all, which is a much more significant challenge. Still a nice any-way-you-want level, with some tricky sections to navigate, especially near the end of getting up to the exit with all the entrances except for the top right one.

Toolkit 4 - Berliner Star Another nice Flopsy/Wafflem collab level where a save all is just barely possible with the skillset given. As the level layout is supposed to represent the various bus routes in Germany, the many openings in the terrain dry up the skillset surprisingly quick, especially the builders and miners. Still, a really nice challenge if you're up to try the save all

Toolkit 5 - Tight as 42 Not too difficult of a level if you're willing to accept losses, but a much more significant challenge if going for either the talisman of save 46 or the non-talisman of maximum 49 saved, which I was able to achieve. It's barely doable with the skillset given, but it is possible The talisman could potentially be the max save 49 instead

Toolkit 6 - The Rocky Wafflem Level The very first level of the pack credited to Nessy, Wafflem, and Flopsy. Very nice title referencing The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I had the pleasure of watching with my sister and her friends from a while back. We watched the interactive one at a local theater. This was a really fun and enjoyable level to play and solve, and the save all isn't too difficult here either, with perhaps the only hard part of the level managing the climber hatch. Even moreso because Time Warp is one of my favorite music tracks of the pack! I was wondering when we were going to hear this one, and I guess just like Seb Lems, it comes near the very end.

Toolkit 7 - Lucky 77's Not a fan of this level, sorry, due to how excessive on the repetition it is. It's not much of an interesting level itself, especially with stackers as your only constructive skill means to get higher, though the climber hatch certainly kicks things up a notch and increases the difficulty significantly, along with the save all requirement. Here I thought the talisman would be really difficult to obtain, but luckily my non-talisman solution just needed the major tweak of the stacker/basher interaction. It does mean the talisman solution is very difficult on the execution as it needs very good timing to achieve being able to get up efficiently with just a stacker each with the non-climber hatches.

Toolkit 8 - A Flopsy Wafflem Double Feature Nice to see another Flopsy/Wafflem collab level in the pack, and one that isn't as difficult as it appears and despite the skillset of mostly platformers to navigate and get up the level other than the fencers. The talisman solution was luckily a small tweak to my non-talisman one of going up to the exit from the right side instead of the left side. Not sure why I didn't think of that earlier and hence I could had gotten the talisman on my blind playthrough. And yes, went through OWAs the wrong way FTW!

Toolkit 9 - Mystic Cave Lemmings v2 Quite possibly the hardest level of the entire rank IMO, as nothing is really obvious here other than most of the platformers. It's very difficult to navigate through the floating platform where the right-most entrance is, and getting up to the exit is very hard to figure out. It's also hard to figure out how to get the left entrances over to the right side of the level, not to mention how to get the top entrance down safely, though the latter is easily achieved with just one skill but it needs to be placed at the right spot so that no one goes out to the left. Nice level that Flopsy tells me was never released, but wow, it's a pretty hard one.

Toolkit 10 - Who Wants To Be The Flopsy? Much harder than I expected, as the skillset is way more restricted than it appears to be, though this is probably because I might had taken a somewhat inefficient approach to the level. The L and O sections are probably the hardest parts of the level here, with the Y somewhat difficult too. Nice design with the way the terrain spells out Flopsy's username

Toolkit 11 - In A Slipstream Nice to see a MegSEGAbytes level make an appearance here in GGF. I checked my MegSEGAbytes solution afterwards and seems my GGF solution is the intended way while the other one is a backroute. The backroute might still work here, but I'm not certain. I didn't check to see if this level was a fixed one in any of the changelogs. Also not sure why it took me a while to see that the miner is the best way to get up the large wall near the exit in order to conserve a lot of the builders

Toolkit 12 - Anxiety Rollercoaster Last level of the pack by Flopsy, Wafflem, and Nessy. Much harder than I gave it credit for, and I have to suspect the way I did the level isn't intended, as it appears the water is too high by a pixel. As such, I believe the intention is to go down the other side, where maybe it needs some timing with getting a second Lemming to turn around in the basher tunnel and then dig down in order to go through the OWWs. I'll have to spend more time with the level to see.

edit: Ok, I went back and resolved the level by going down the other side. Replay included in the zip file. This is probably more intended, but I'm not certain. This took a really long time before I found something that worked with the timing all working out in the end.

Toolkit 13 - The Last Lemming Waterfall Connection For the third iteration of this series of levels, this is much easier than the second one in the Encore rank, and probably about the same difficulty as the original in one of the main ranks. Don't be fooled by the skillset though, as it will run out surprisingly fast if you're not careful. This time, no hacking the wrong way through the OWAs, so Flopsy's probably happy about that

Toolkit 14 - The Great Lemdon Underground Essentially a bigger and somewhat harder version of Toolkit 4, but still not too difficult, especially if you're willing to accept losses. The many openings in the terrain again can complicate matters and make it hard to see what leads to where. In my LP, I couldn't bother myself with the save all, though I suspect it is possible. Indeed, I went back to the level after finishing all of the LP of this pack and I have confirmed that a save all is possible, though probably not that much harder than any solution that doesn't save all. The second replay for the level is the save all one. Nice level that is still somewhat a fun and enjoyable challenge with miners as your only digging destructive skill and only one digger.

Toolkit 15 - Industrial Blocker Zone v2 Not too hard of a level despite the intimidating level design and with blockers scattered all over the level. Definitely reminds me of the second level of MegSEGAbytes where you need to free one of the blockers with a walker skill. It's likely you can free any of them first, though perhaps the choice will make the level either easier or harder. I don't think it matters which side you begin with. Again, don't be fooled by the skillset, as the skills will run out surprisingly quick. In particular, I ran out of platformers, followed by the miners, though I luckily had one remaining of the latter that I used to free the last blocker. Nice level and I especially like there are a certain number of different specialists, in this case, climbers, floaters, and gliders among the many preplaced blockers. I also like the waffle design that's kind of a shoutout to Wafflem.

Toolkit 16 - KLANK Contender for hardest level of the rank, though a close second to Toolkit 9 if it isn't. The hardest part of the solution is probably figuring out how to get the middle entrance out while not using too many skills. The talisman, while different from the non-talisman solution, wasn't as hard to figure out as I made it out to be at first. Nice challenging level!

Toolkit 17 - The Walk of Hedderley The hardest part of the level is figuring out how to get up to the exit with the very limited skillset and with the skillset at the very bottom. The builders are especially problematic here being in very short supply, and same with the miners. Still, a nice level and challenge!

Toolkit 18 - The Labyrinth Basin This might be the hardest level of the rank, if not Toolkit 9 or Toolkit 16. At least for me it is, as it was a very long struggle before I finally succeeded. It's not easy to figure out how to keep the climbers and swimmers separated once the former makes a route for the latter. It's obvious where you need to lead the climbers in order for them to get to the exit, but to achieve it is really difficult. It was also very hard to figure out how to contain the climbers, if you're supposed to, while making the route. Knowing myself, I probably made the level far harder than I needed to. Final Wafflem/Flopsy collab level of the pack, and quite a nice one, but wow, a really hard level.

Toolkit 19 - KLINK Essentially Toolkit 16 but inverted 180 degrees. This level IMO is easier, though I initially thought it be harder. The hardest part of the level is probably zigzagging up the OWWs from the other side with the floater worker to get the top entrance out. Then the rest of the level was seeing how I can conserve skills in order to get it solved. Earlier attempts had me a stacker and probably a builder short. The solution came when I saw I could contain the top entrance with just a stacker rather than both a stack and builder. I was also fortunate that I got everyone in the digger to go out to the right, therefore leading to more skill savings Nice level here!

Toolkit 20 - Musical Statues I'm told that this level needs a fix, as all the Lemmings are supposed to be pre-placed blockers just like on Toolkit 15. I think the level is more or less the same the way I did it in the LP, with of course using the walker to free one of the blockers. The save all talisman is a more significant challenge, though not that much harder IMO.
Nice level, and I'm wondering if Armani might had gotten inspiration for the penultimate level of his Halloween pack from this one

edit: I went back to play the level on v12.12.5 where all the Lemmings are correctly made as pre-placed blockers and never mind, the save all is far more of a significant challenge this way than when some of the Lemmings aren't blockers like in v12.14. Still, I was able to obtain the talisman after some time I would include this replay, but I think it's best if Flopsy fixes the level up, as this replay is for v12.12.5, not v12.14. 

Toolkit 21 - Intergalatic Sonic Sevens To round off the pack, you get a very large level that mixes all 21 graphic sets used in the pack, along with 21 entrances, and a 77-of-everything skillset with the classic 8 skills. Also a very large number of Lemmings, with 777. In a way, you can probably much think of this level as your reward for getting to the very end where you of course are free to solve it in any way you can. Almost reminds me of the final level of New Formats SubLems by Colorful Arty, except it's a 99-of-everything and the save requirement is way more lenient. The talisman isn't that much harder here, though the description is no bombers used, meaning it's essentially the same thing as saving all 777 Lemmings. Very nice level to finish off the pack and I kind of really enjoyed this one despite it being pretty laggy and just like the final level of Lemmings World Tour, it's only stressful in the first minute or so, though in the latter, it's a lose 1 level, with the talisman being a save all thanks to me Finally, I don't think any level comes anywhere close to having as many entrances as this level at 21              

Encore 1 - Reach for the Stars! Backroute as Flopsy has told me. Nice level to start off the rank, though I'm apparently far better with stackers than I claim to be Honestly, it might just be due to getting better with them over the last several years

Encore 2 - Down The Pan v2 This level wasn't too difficult for me, but honestly it might just be a little for its position this early in the rank. I can definitely see this one being a problem level for less experienced players, especially with the tricks needed and the 1-of-everything skillset. Nice level and definitely one of my favorites!

Encore 3 - When The Lems Drop Out Not a hard level either, though the fact you only have platformers to gain height makes it a bit tricky. There are stackers to help further with that, and definitely the miners. Talisman isn't too difficult IMO but it's still a really nice one.

Encore 4 - Ring Twice for Savoy This level I definitely say is way too difficult for its position this early in the rank! It was likely just me being a huge dumb dumb here, but with stackers as your only means to get higher makes this a pretty hard level. After struggling so much with the non-talisman solution, I thought the talisman would be even harder. Luckily, it was just a small tweak needed for the hackish non-talisman solution I found, so it wasn't too bad Nice level but wow, a very tough one!

Encore 5 - Leaving Behind All We Know Now we are back to a somewhat easy to medium-ish difficulty level after a pretty brutally difficult level in Encore 4. The only difficult part of the level are the builders, but other than that it's not a hard level, especially given the lenient skillset. Another level where I bested the talisman record and found a no bashers solution

Encore 6 - Back to the Shack (part II) This one took me a bit longer than part 1 to figure out, though really the only part I had difficulty with was figuring out how to get the glider out of his infinite loop he's stuck in. Making him mine into the steel to break the cycle is clever! I also like getting both gliders to prepare the route through the OWW on the other side to free the crowd. Well done, this is a great level!

Encore 7 - Another Lemming Waterfall Connection Much harder than the original one found in one of the main ranks. This was a pretty long struggle for me as well. Earlier attempts had me short on skills, while later attempts had me short on the requirement after going back to tweak earlier parts of the solution to save skills. In the end, I hacked my way through the OWAs in the wrong direction. I think I remember you finding this hilarious when I did that in Seb Lems As I've mentioned, any opportunity I see and can take advantage of I will do it, especially if the author leaves backroutes in I can see cheesing the level by Nice level, but wow, perhaps another level that's difficult for its position. As Armani has mentioned, the 4 bombers increases the difficulty significantly here IMO.

Encore 8 - Let's do this Hawkman style! Back to a level that's much easier than the previous one but still no walk in the park. This level's pretty fun and enjoyable to solve IMO, especially with seeing where one can save constructive skills by using jumpers to substitute in for them. My solution has been deemed a backroute unfortunately. Just like I said a bit earlier, I will backroute levels if authors allow me an opportunity to Still a nice level here!

Encore 9 - Climbing the Wall (again!) Much harder than the original despite up OWAs as the main change here but still a nice level. I thought this one was going to be super fiddly, especially the fencing on the left side, but luckily it isn't like that one LPO2 level where it's nothing but the trick. The save requirement creeped up much faster than I thought it would with the blockers, but that wasn't the biggest problem for me. What I had more trouble with was rescuing the bottom left hatch while making sure a path to the exit wasn't destroyed and I wouldn't have any skills to be able to recover later on. In the end, nice to see the concept of the level return here but with some additional gimmicks thrown in, such as fencers to go through the up OWAs to get one of the entrances out and to get the crowds together to get to the exit.

Encore 10 - Ghost Rider Not too difficult of a level, other than maybe getting the crowd up to the exit due to the left OWAs. Saw an opportunity to use the thin steel to my advantage here to backroute the level, so looks like another one to add to the count

Encore 11 - Tight Wad Hill Much harder than I expected, though only because I had some wrong impressions and ideas about the level. In particular, once again the visual deception of what area the up OWAs cover. I thought bashing from the left was impossible as a result, but that was just me hastily coming to the wrong conclusion without having tried it first The area the arrows cover seems absolutely vital in order for the solution to work, as you wouldn't be able to stack at the right spot for the others to go over it. It's especially nice that all the timing works out if you do the solution correctly and you release the crowd with the correct Lemming that's far enough ahead of the others so that the first one to get over the stack has enough time to platform to the exit. Excellent level!

Encore 12 - Night Vision Not too difficult a level, with the only hard part of the solution being to platform under the "green" bus in order to get someone over the top to clone the glider so that you can fence through the buses and then mine to release both crowds. Talisman pretty much happened by "accident" here, though I generally go for save all's/max saves as much as possible anyway, so it was pretty much a given, and this happened to be a save requirement one Another nice level here!

Encore 13 - This is not A Star Wars rip off Another level where I really struggled with for a very long time, but only because I thought you need to send two workers over the top on the left side of the level I kept trying so many things to make sure the bridge wasn't destroyed while being able to get everyone down safely. It made me think that a blocker's definitely needed at the start, even though I know for sure it conflicts with being able to get everyone through the teleporter safely without anyone walking by it. It didn't help that for a long time I thought the secret tunnel on the far right side at the top was decoration It turns out to be very critical to the solution and is how you save enough time to be able to beat the clock. Nice solution and one of my favorites despite struggling for a while!

Encore 14 - Tally Ho Lemming San! Platformers as your only constructive skill means it will be difficult to ascend the level, though here you just need to use the terrain and the digging destructive skills to your advantage. Talisman is luckily a super easy tweak, as I'm able to substitute a basher for a digger here while being able to platform to the crate to achieve the same effect. Nice level and I especially like the buses over water on the far right!

Encore 15 - No Time To Die (Gotta Go Fast edition) If you're familiar with this kind of level, it's a level that originates from namida's Lemmings Plus pack and is found in every numbered Lemmings Plus pack (ie, Lemmings Plus 1, Lemmings Plus 2, etc). Stats are always the same: save 20/20, 9-of-everything in the classic 8 skills, and 2 minute time limit. Here, the GGF level is the same except for number of Lemmings and the bombers are replaced with stackers. Not a hard level if you use multiple workers. There are also a few ways to go about and do the level while being able to beat the tight clock.

Encore 16 - Back to the Shack (part III) Third and final iteration due to there being 3 Back to the Future films. This one was a fairly quick solve just like the first one, so ironically the second part took me the longest to solve even though that one was a fairly fast solve too Nice solution with getting the crowd up through the bottom OWW to reach the exit. Time limit can be really tight, but as long as you have everything all ready for the crowd before the miner gets through and then bombs to help them up the rest of the way you should be fine Nice level here!

Encore 17 - Lost in the Casino Not as difficult as it looks and is somewhat of a breather this late in the rank. I would say the hardest part of the level is getting everyone down to the exit safely, especially the one that goes to release the bottom right Lemming and then they are able to climb out together after. Talisman was also luckily a super small tweak to my non-talisman solution of replacing the basher with a miner to free the preplaced blocker while also stopping the digger by building earlier.

Encore 18 - Your Latest Trick (part 2) Definitely one of the hardest levels of the rank even though it may seem to be an easier level than the original due to the RR not being 99 and no up OWAs. How very wrong I was! This level needed about another 1-1.5 hours of offline time before I finally figured out the solution. Looking back at my attempt video, seems I was very close at one point, with the only thing wrong being the bomber skill. I simply had the wrong idea that everyone needed to be contained in both directions, when in fact you're supposed to let one Lemming out to the left. The bomber is very difficult to see in the solution, but its use is really nice, with stopping the basher and then everyone being able to drop out and land on the middle platform before falling the rest of the way to the exit platformer. Shimmier is also somewhat difficult to see, as it's only use is cancelling a skill instead of its intended effect of grabbing a ceiling and going along it. Very nice level and just like Flopsy was surprised this level stumped me!

Encore 19 - Walking Barefoot Much harder than I expected as well, especially with figuring out how to contain the crowds in the middle effectively. This I can definitely see being a very hard level for less experienced players. The blocker placement is super critical here but is what makes the solution great due to how you need to stone him after letting one climber/floater get by first. This took me a long time to see, as before this I kept fiddling around with containment methods with stackers, eventually culminating in seeing where I can be more efficient in saving them in order to be able to do the far right side of the level at the bottom effectively. Nicely done to both Flopsy and Nessy for this one!

Fun fact: I have a level with the blocker/stoner interaction that is used in about the same way as it is here as well

Encore 20 - Who Ya Gonna Call? Knuckles the Echidna! Yet another level that is far harder than I gave it credit for! This one ended up stumping me for a few days. Looking back at my attempt video, seems I had the solution mostly correct at one point, with 1 or 2 skills wrong. Figuring out what the shimmier is for is very critical to the solution, as it's needed to get over the miner tunnel to the left and to be able to use the critical digger at the top to get everyone out and glide into the exit. A lot of my attempts had me a skill short, getting into trouble later because I don't have a skill due to not having collected it yet, or the neutrals get into trouble when collecting the midair digger pickup. The miner to the left seemed counterintuitive to me as it would mean the neutrals themselves wouldn't be able to get back up the level later due to the path being destroyed. Indeed, for a while I couldn't tell which miner direction was correct for a long time. Do you mine to the left or do you mine to the right first at the start? Moreover, do you dig first? I definitely had a lot of doubts as to what was correct in the solution and the order of which to do things. I also thought the solution is timing based, but luckily no timing is needed whatsoever. Nice level but wow, I definitely consider this the hardest level of the entire Encore rank. Its position as the penultimate Encore level is completely justified! If I had already played and solved this level during the contest like Armani has, this would had been a pretty quick one in my LP Nope, I wasn't around for that one and hence this was my first time playing the level in my LP. I love the special effects of the mini ghosts being zapped and getting sucked away, similar to what happens in the cartoon(s) and film(s) and with them being the buttons you need to push to unlock the exit, along with the mini-Ghostbusters theme playing after the final one has been pushed

Encore 21 - Beginner's Guide to Destroying the Moon! Much easier than the previous level, though still no walk in the park. I didn't find this level hard in any way like Armani did, though I did have the timing work out at certain points with no one falling out in the wrong direction. I could had saved a fencer in my solution but meh, I couldn't bother myself to get it to work after being annoyed by it one too many times Nice level to finish off the Encore rank!                    

Chilli Dog 1 - Flopsy verses The World Excellent level to start off the rank and not too difficult either despite the 2-of-everything skillset As mentioned, I'm sure that's a typo with "verses," where it should be "versus"

Chilli Dog 2 - Stop the Press! Harder than the previous level but another great one! As you have noticed, I figured out the solution fairly quickly here. Luckily the talisman didn't need too much tweaking from my non-talisman solution, but there was still some things to be careful of, such as making sure climbers who aren't swimmers don't go out to the left for the buttons.

Chilli Dog 3 - The Gonalston Crossroads Very hard level, though the hardest part of the solution is the beginning of how to contain the crowd while not using too many skills. The rest of the solution I was able to figure out quickly, as you've mentioned. I struggled even more with the talisman, though that's simply due to how I didn't figure out the correct spot to do the containment. I believe it normally doesn't work with digging and bombing at a 99RR, but rather it uses the vague mechanic of the extra distance fallen from the entrance in order to be able to contain every Lemming but one if you dig immediately below the entrance. Nice solution but wow I would probably say a little too difficult for its position considering all the precision that's needed for the level and solution

Chilli Dog 4 - Let's Go Rock Climbing! Much easier than the previous level though still not easy by any means. Somewhat difficult but it wasn't too bad. This is the first level where I don't have the original video footage due to foolishly thinking OBS was recording but it wasn't because I forgot to change it back to the hotkey I use when I was recording my post-commentary for the Chilli Dog 3 talisman. In any case, there are two replays attached, the one with the earlier timestamp being the original, but the solutions are more or less the same as one another. The very lenient save requirement makes the level much easier than intended

Chilli Dog 5 - Whodunnit? The second and last level thus far where I don't have the original video footage. I struggled longer with the level than you actually see in the LP, as I also fiddled around the left side to try and get up the level with a bit of success but ultimately one in which it won't work because of running out of skills. The level was still not figured out when I wanted to "pause" the recording and that's when I found out to my horror that OBS wasn't recording at all In any case, it would had likely taken me another 15-20 minutes or so before I finally figured out the solution. This level received a backroute fix last month before I started my LP and now it finally all seemed properly patched up! Excellent solution and I can definitely see why you consider this one of your favorites, as this too is one of mine Love all the preplaced builder staircases and stacker!

Chilli Dog 6 - Buzzkill Can be a difficult level but it's not too bad, especially if you make use of the swimmer, but apparently much harder if you don't (talisman). I completely underestimated the difficulty of the talisman! It was pretty fun and enjoyable to figure out the best way to go through the level while also trying to be efficient with the skills. The main challenge was getting through the level with only platformers and stackers as your main constructive skills. The digging destructive skills are also pretty limited, so skills have the tendency to run out quickly.

Chilli Dog 7 - Round and Round and Away We Go! One of my favorites! The hardest part was figuring out how to get everyone down safely, and getting up the narrow corridor to the exit can be tricky as well. I really love how all the solution comes together as you can logically deduce it piece by piece!

Chilli Dog 8 - Pedalpusher Very hard but an excellent level and yet another one of my favorites! The solution is a little precise in some places, though I believe this is just another case where I made the solution more complicated than it needs to be The diggers especially can be quite difficult to figure out where they go, and the beginning has a really good red herring of making you think you need to bomb both trap triggers away when you only need to bomb the one on the right away. Bombing that and then bashing is not easy to see at all! Same thing with digging at the top so that you avoid using a builder. Well done with this level!

Chilli Dog 9 - The Panic Room I thought this level would be difficult due to there being zombies, which is a type of level I tend to struggle with a lot when playing and solving them, but it really isn't that hard. I ended up being stumped here, though that's because I overlooked a lot of basic stuff In particular, I thought the miner would be involved in some complicated setup, but no, it's not. It's just used to get the higher of the bottom entrances up, while the bottom right can simply be released with a digger with the help of the stacker. Nice use of bashing to release the top right entrance, where I initially thought it was a blocker under the entrance and then dig it free with a faller from the hatch. I believe in this way you end up losing more than you can afford. Nice level and yes I agree that it's surprising that this level stumped me At the same time, I wanted to get a gym workout in before my local gym closed, hence why I ended up stopping the recording early, as I would had kept going otherwise if it wasn't already close to closing time

Chilli Dog 10 - One Of Us Has Split Personalities Somewhat challenging, though I had pretty much all of the solution figured out somewhat quickly, with the only part wrong being the exit part, where I incorrectly thought it was a reverse miner. I also kept fiddling around with the middle area in order to prevent the climber from going back to the left and drowning, but no matter what a hole was always made, even if you fill it up with a stack and then fence through it to make it steppable for the swimmers. The correct way for the exit is digging for the swimmers to step up and then fence to reach the exit. Can't believe that eluded me for a while! Nice challenging level and puzzle with figuring out how to get each of the two swimmers and two climbers out of their predicament and to the goal!

Chilli Dog 11 - Madame Lemga One of the hardest levels of the rank IMO, though my solution is way more complicated than it needs to be due to how I brought all of the crowd along and hence I needed the right timing and space to do the middle area with just the lone stoner pickup. That was the part I struggled with the most as a result, though the level in general is just hard to figure out with where the skills other than the constructives go. Another approach I tried was with a lot of RR fiddling, which would work, except the climber who releases everyone with a stack would get himself into danger by walking into the trap on the left. Yet another approach I tried was a unique one with releasing everyone with a stoner in the middle due to how some of the stoner terrain can appear a bit above terrain so that everyone can step up into the miner tunnel when destroying the OWW, but again skill shortage problems. Nice level, but wow, a pretty hard one! A lot of things look like they could work but they don't.

Chilli Dog 12 - Detonator Much easier than the previous level but still no pushover. It wasn't too difficult to figure out the solution, though I still needed to optimize some parts in order to not run out of skills. The digger placements can also be pretty annoying due to how really precise they need to be in order to be able to bomb through both sides of the OWWs. Other than that, this was a somewhat enjoyable level to play and puzzle through

Chilli Dog 13 - My Own Worst Enemy The solution is pretty obvious for the most part, it's the execution that's the main difficulty and challenge IMO. The start is quite similar to Chilli Dog 3 in that the 99RR makes it quite difficult to be able to contain the crowd and the really tricky terrain you need to work with. As was pointed out to me, my solution is much harder than it needs to be due to being timing heavy intensive and luck with getting everyone past the stack at the end. The talisman was where I raged thanks to that one freaking Lemming who decides to not get past the stack like everyone else did!  

Chilli Dog 14 - Lemon Flavoured Rice Pudding Not as hard as it looks despite appearances, though the time limit can be a problem if you allow it to be. If you multi-task even slightly, you should be fine, though the one must appears to be to work the water gaps simultaneously in order to even be able to beat the clock. Here, I thought the talisman would be pretty difficult to obtain, but luckily it wasn't too bad and once again just needed a slight tweak to my non-talisman solution. Nice level and design here!

Chilli Dog 15 - Pseudologia Fantastica v2 Much harder than I expected! A lot of the time, I thought the double basher would be too wasteful at the start, so it took me a really long time before I finally found an approach that works. For both talismans, luckily my non-talisman solution just needed a few minor tweaks. I obtained them in separate runs, but I later tried the level again offline and I have confirmed it's possible to get both in the same solution. So, if Flopsy wants to in a future update, both requirements can be combined into one talisman This is the 4th replay in the zip file. Nice solution, especially with feeding the worker platformer pickups to keep going. Kind of reminds me of that one United Biolab level in the 4th rank where you don't start with skill

Chilli Dog 16 - Check My Eyelids For Holes! Hard but another excellent level here which is one of my favorites! Really love how the solution all comes together slowly piece by piece as you deduce it carefully by logic Like Armani, figuring out how to get the first blocker down safely is the hardest IMO, though in my case it isn't too bad as I just gave the glider skill to him after collecting it The many holes can be somewhat annoying when trying to get around them, but this was an intentional level design choice, even if it looks as if they might had been for backroute fixing

Chilli Dog 17 - The Other Way One of the hardest levels of the rank, considering how long I struggled before I found a backroute for both the non-talisman and talisman solutions, which involved cheesing through the trap at the start. I kind of had a feeling the way to go would be through the bottom left and going around to the right to get back up to the top and to the exit, I just had trouble figuring out the bottom left with getting everyone down safely. Turns out I did that part completely wrong and that there was one thing that eluded me and that is I didn't think to see what happens when everyone goes down together with the digger in order to land safely with the stack to make the splatform. I wouldn't say I'm more dangerous with stackers than Nessy, though with how I have used them in very fiddly ways, I suppose I can be

Chilli Dog 18 - & Knuckles Wow, what a beast of a level to play and solve considering the huge size and also a skillset which looks to be plentiful but is actually quite restrictive! Even after spending 2 hours playing the level live, I couldn't get the level solved. In my offline sessions, I ended up needing at least another 1.5 hours or so before I finally succeeded. As Armani has mentioned, keeping the climbers out of trouble is definitely the main problem and challenge of the level. I made the far right side harder and more precise than it needs to be, though I did indeed try fencing to connect with the miner, but I think I kept having skill shortage problems. I believe it might be necessary to dig before fencing to hit the steel, though I think this is just simply reverse when to do the digging, which is dig before miner. I'll need to check that. I also had problems with getting the timing to work, though I think it's just a matter of going through the OWW soon after getting the parallel miners on the far right. Nice collab level with Flopsy designing the level and Wafflem coming up with the solution, but wow, quite a hard level! In fairness, it is the very end of the rank, so its high difficulty is completely justified

Chilli Dog 19 - It's Tea and Biscuits Time! Very hard level, though one in which I had pretty much all the solution figured out somewhat quickly, just the crowd release and avoiding the teleporter took me a really long time to figure out. I was told the extreme precision needed to avoid the teleporter is indeed intended. There are other ways to avoid it as well, but if you do so, then you won't have the necessary skills to be able to complete the level later and/or you end up losing too many because you get some trapped by using the teleporter. Turns out you can't even afford to get a single Lemming trapped up there. I really like the return of the core concept of "Everything Falls Into Place" with the long builder/miner in this level, though it's much harder to figure out where and how to set it up IMO. In the end, I didn't use the shimmier, so perhaps this could be a talisman itself in a future update Nice level but wow, definitely agree it's quite possibly the hardest of the entire pack.

Chilli Dog 20 - Time To Get Closer The final new level of the main part of the pack I haven't played (I already played and solved Chilli Dog 21 from years ago when it was part of LOTY2021). Even though I found this one quite easy like Armani did, this is still a great level! I do find it surprising that Nessy found this one difficult I pretty much had the solution figured out quickly, with pretty much the only thing incorrect being where the second platformer goes. I made use of the highlight feature to be able to block behind the platformer and after the miner in order to turn the latter. Also, I had the wrong idea of how to get the climbers up to the top at the right time to block and turn the miner, but then I quickly realized a much easier and more reliable way to achieve this. I got lucky with obtaining the talisman on a blind playthrough of the level

Chilli Dog 21 - 14 Hour Supernova Level design is based on Nepster's "Final Frustration" from NepsterLems but here Flopsy's level is far easier. I spent far longer on the level than was necessary due to being stubborn with trying to go for a save all, though I later abandoned it after a while once I was able to determine it's just impossible. If you try to conserve the builders as much as possible, then you run out of the digging destructive skills and vice versa. You may have twice the amount of builders than you are given in Nepster's level, but don't be fooled, as they will run out very quickly. For my LP, I took the much easier way to solve the level as I know from watching Icho's video solution that I completely overlooked the fact that there's enough climbers for one entrance (far left) and enough floaters for another (far right). However, I still neglected making everyone climbers for a while when I kept making routes that can get Lemmings up without needing to be a climber Just like the previous level, I got very lucky of being able to obtain both talismans in the same solution! Then I followed up and showed off my LOTY2021 solution from 4 years ago just for kicks, so everyone can see how massively overcomplicated it is when I neglected to use most of the climbers/floaters and used the builders very suboptimally

In both of my solutions, I didn't use the teleporter that would had massively helped with the right area with the plentiful OWWs. In the case of the much easier solution I spent a while in my LP, for whatever reason I thought that was a huge fire trap blocking it to get to it safely. I didn't realize it was terrain and not a trap until I had used CPM near the very end of my LOTY2021 solution Guess that's something I completely forgot about from 4 years ago after watching Icho's solution. I did have a thought that maybe one can get a save all if the teleporter is used, so I tried for a time offline after getting the level solved in my LP, but I abandoned it after about 20 mins or so when I was counting the gaps that still needed builders and finding that there wouldn't be enough, especially when there's still the very tricky narrow corridor to build up to the exit. So, I would be surprised if anyone is able to pull off a save all!

Fun aside fact: It took me 1.5 hours before I finally got Final Frustration solved and hence I finally solved all of NepsterLems after 3 years!                            

Super Sonic 1 - Andover Sonic Speed! Great level to start off the rank that isn't too difficult but it's still not a cake walk in any way. Great design here! Talisman difficulty is about the same as the non-talisman difficulty.

Super Sonic 2 - Aphrodite Another great level with the only hard part being how to get everyone down safely at the start. The design kind of reminded me of a Lemmings Reunion level, just without the splatform being required at the start since it's not needed if you do it correctly. Love the Dolly Dimple builder trick (see, even Armani calls it that in his written feedback ) in the middle area of the level and yea, seems you're referring to The Sports Bar level from Reunion for the trick Time limit doesn't seem needed here, though I personally don't mind them and I'm going to guess it was for backroute fixing, though what I think I fail to see what it blocks

Super Sonic 3 - Funnel Cake Hard one and one which seems pretty difficult for being this early in the rank IMO. Most of my attempts had me fiddling around seeing if I could backroute the level and unfortunately it appears I succeeded Sorry! It was still pretty hard to find this cheesy route, especially with figuring out how to manage the crowds of the top entrances and also to get all the climber/glider specialists of the bottom entrance up and out. Design's pretty nice and as usual a trap I'm pretty sure I haven't seen before!

Super Sonic 4 - Past the Point of Delirium Previously played and solved this level as part of LOTY2021 back in 2022, but I decided to play and solve the level again from scratch just because I think it's great exercise for one's brain instead of taking the easy way out and loading a replay 4 years is way more than enough time for me to have forgotten the solution, though in this case it was really just one part of the solution I couldn't remember, which was timing the climbers so that the second climber is able to bash through the horizontal terrain above the lattice to allow the crowd to step up through and be able to walk the rest of the way to the exit. Excellent level which I was blown away by the solution back then, and I still am today

Super Sonic 5 - Something in the Way Backroute as I was told, though honestly I didn't even think my solution was one Guess it makes sense considering I didn't find the level difficult in any way

Super Sonic 6 - Do We Chill Well? Excellent level with an excellent solution, whether the non-talisman or talisman! Not too difficult, though seems I might had made the splatform part harder than it needed to be. Also, I do believe this is the very first time I'm aware of the basher and interrupt him at a point so that it creates a one-way wall, similar to bombing a climber high enough on a 7 or 8 pixel vertical, smooth terrain. I've played levels requiring this interrupting a basher with making a one-pixel gap, but I don't think I ever seen what happens that it creates a passable wall from the same side as the basher but not from the other side.

Super Sonic 7 - Palace of Excess Hard but great level! For me, the hardest part was managing the entrances at the top, especially with having the fencers cross at about the same time at the top with the OWW so that both of them stop and so that no one can leave and die to the deadly ceiling. Then the only problem after that was getting the bottom entrances out, especially given how you only have one extra climber after assigning all of them to the Lemmings at the bottom. Also, seems a bit of RR manipulation is needed so that you can bash and then build over the trap in time before a Lemming arrives too soon and gets killed. This was a fun and enjoyable one to play and solve!

Super Sonic 8 - Say It Ain't So... Another hard but excellent level! The hardest part of the level is most definitely creating the digger ramp in the wall before the exit, as that requires very good timing, though I think it naturally occurs on this level if you do the part with the swimmer workers correctly. Also with freeing the blocker, as that is somewhat hard to see for the solution. I think my solution is a bit overcomplicated in some parts, but hey, so long as the timing works out and the solution works that's all that matters Well done with this level!

Super Sonic 9 - Flo's Labyrinth Great level, especially the design, here as well! Easier than some of the levels before this but once again not a cake walk by any means. I do suspect a save all is possible here, watching Icho's solution, though maybe it's possible you run out of skills and hence it isn't. I think most solutions would probably have you run the gauntlet with the traps before the exit, where if you do it right then they all will disable the traps before either the swimmers or regular Lemmings walk into them and die, or you can simplify it like I did and use the extra skills to separate the non-disarmers from the disarmers to make it easier.

Super Sonic 10 - Do You Believe in Magic? Hard one, especially with managing the crowd at the start and how to release them in the end while also finishing on time. Seems there's a few different ways to do the start, though seems it's necessary to get another worker in order to do the gap before the exit and be able to finish on time, as the first one who bashes through the OWW at the bottom won't turn with the gap below where the crowd starts. Nice level, especially with the way the blocker is used to cancel the digger!

Super Sonic 11 - The Odd Couple Another backroute on a level for which I still don't know what's intended. I'm pretty sure what I think is the intended way in mind is for the Lemmings to approach the exit from different sides, but I can't figure out how to achieve that while also being able to get the pickups. I suppose I can always try again at a later time

Super Sonic 12 - So Far Away Another backroute here as well apparently, as honestly I didn't think my solution was one, but I suppose this one is pretty easy for the level given the overall design and all, so fair enough Still not easy by any means IMO. Another great design!

Super Sonic 13 - Grey Will Fade Somewhat hard but I really like this one with the various blocker and non-blocker tricks and all! For some reason, I was stuck on the digger at the top with the climber to get inside to bash and clone, when in fact I had already realized the easier just bash and then clone once he's in the right spot. Seems that makes all the difference, as cloning earlier allowed me to finish on time. This should had jumped out at me sooner, given that the top buttons forces both climbers to dig after pressing them.

Super Sonic 14 - Blowing my Stack Made a bigger mess out of my solution than it needed to be, both the non-talisman and talisman solutions. I honestly thought the latter would take me a while, but it wasn't that bad once I realized a way to simplify how I did the middle area with the preassigned climber hatch. Even moreso due to how there's plenty of stackers provided, which as I've mentioned I tend to be not so good at when it comes to solving levels with. I got pretty lucky with the right side with the huge mess of climbers but one climber trapped in the pit was all I needed for my solution to work Great level but wow, quite a hard one which is quite easy to make a mess of depending on how you approach it.

Super Sonic 15 - Just Looking This level's pretty easy IMO, though it is a fair point that the double miner and platformer to get the right entrance through to the other side of the huge OWW is a hard and advanced trick. So, I suppose it comes down to how easily one can spot that, as the rest of the level is quite obvious, though even then it's not super hard to figure out IMO. This was still a nice level, and given all the other really hard levels around it, breathers are certainly welcome

Super Sonic 16 - Little Sahara Really hard one for me despite it being a one-screener, especially as this took me quite a long time to figure out. This most likely could had came to me a lot sooner, but I honestly though digging and then mining the exit platform wouldn't work out at all to get the others up to it. Hence why I didn't think to try it. Pretty much one of those I was too hasty in coming to this conclusion without having tried it first, though I already tried plenty of other things before it and saw they didn't work either. Currently undecided whether or not to patch my solution, but at the same time I did get the talisman which does seem to mean that overall everything else about the solution is fine besides the exit area.

Super Sonic 17 - Island in the Sun Another very hard level for me, especially as I kept running out of time and I couldn't get the timing of the miners to work out at the end no matter how I kept fine tuning my several earlier approaches. Then after a really long time I try something I haven't tried before which seemed way more promising. It still required a lot of fine tuning but eventually I got it to finally work. I think I can definitely see why the time limit is needed here to block possibly easier routes. Nice level but it did prove frustrating when several of my approaches that should had worked failed due to timing out.

Super Sonic 18 - The Big Fat Greek Level! Somewhat challenging but definitely one of my favorites due to the shimmier skill being my favorite NL skill and the way it's used here and also the various miner tricks needed! Didn't take me long to figure out the shimmier/blocker, especially as I've seen it a few times before, I just had trouble setting up the shimmier stuff in the upper middle area as this seems quite surprise as too much and you don't get past the fire trap, or too little and you won't be able to save the miner who collects the shimmier pickup himself. If anything, the precision would be my main critique of the level, though it's not Flopsy's fault in any way here, as I don't think there's anything that can be done to make it easier, such as providing extra skills, but this generally makes a level prone to backroutes.

Super Sonic 19 - Error 77C Hard level, especially as I kept finding ways to be more efficient with skills in order to save the important ones for the later parts of the level and to make sure I have enough to be able to complete the level. Several of my attempts came close but I was either at least a skill short or I wasn't able to get them up to the exit with what I had left. As usual, I think I made some parts harder than they needed to be. A great level nevertheless, especially the design, but wow, what a beast of a level to play and solve!

Super Sonic 20 - Heavy Fuel Somewhat hard, though the key here seems to be the very precise bomber in the middle left that allows both upper entrances and lower left entrance into the area with the teleporter. Even after figuring this out, I honestly had the most trouble with the right side of getting everyone down into the exit safely in such a way that no one is lost to the fire traps on either side. The skills are very limited here so you cannot waste any and I pretty much had trouble figuring out the best way to get down to the exit. My solution does seem quite hackish and brute forced, especially with how it looks as if they should had been fried but I think they just were narrowly able to get by without being killed by them. Nice level but another beast of a level to play and solve.

Super Sonic 21 -Can't Stop Partying Another level I previously played and solved 4 years ago when it was part of LOTY2021 but just like SS 4 I decided to play and solve this level from scratch. I had completely forgotten how to solve the level and as a result ended up spending more than 2 hours on this level alone, which is the longest time spent on any single level thus far for the GGF pack! There was a lot of redoing of the level, and even moreso due to how most of the time I engaged FF instead of time skipping. I eventually did find a solution that works, but yea, it took a really long time. After solving, I was curious about my LOTY2021 solution, so I decided to show that off too. As you can, my solutions are nowhere like one another Great level but wow, I remember having somewhat of a hard time back then, and that definitely seems to be the case playing the level again after so long and after 4 years                    

Rose 1 - Here We Go! Very nice and really easy level to start off the pack, if you don't bother for the talisman. If you decide to go for it, then IMO this is way too difficult for one for the very first level of GGF. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good talisman, but for those who go for talismans, it might be way too problematic when they find themselves unable to obtain it and all on the first level of the pack, which increases the chances of rage quitting possibly happening. At the same time, talismans are optional challenges, so it's not like they need to be obtained in order to proceed and/or solve all of the pack

Rose 2 - Let's Get The Show On The Road! Another very easy level. I don't think I've seen these masher traps before despite having played levels in this graphic set before. I'm always learning something new! I love the marquee in the level. Also the only reason the level has two replays is due to how I apparently didn't get the save all, and you know how much I love those due to it being my play style when it comes to Lemmings

Rose 3 - Knock Knock Knockin on Eggman's Door Only hard part is the exit area being somewhat small to get up there comfortably, but other than that another great, somewhat easy level that's definitely a bit harder than either of the two levels before it. That's also true that this is more of a Wafflem style level, since as you mentioned he loves button levels

Rose 4 - A Spring (yard) would be helpful here! Another great level, and it's significantly harder when doing the talisman since it's far harder to get up the level when miners are prohibited. One mistake I made, and that is the floating orb things aren't traps at all Well, that's my fault for not letting a Lemming get underneath to see if it kills and/or not using CPM, but you already know me with intentionally not using the latter to save time and to make things easier for myself

Rose 5 - Marble Garden Ruins Not easy to find the best way through the level due to plenty of obstacles in the way. Somehow I thought the talisman was no builders as well due to that being the talisman requirement for Rose 1, and indeed that turned out to be the case for my second playthrough as my blind playthrough didn't obtain it because I didn't think carefully before using that builder Nice level and honestly this was still a bit fun to puzzle through because of it being open-ended even with the talisman

Rose 6 - Caught by the sand (opolis) Wow, that's an interesting effect with updrafts on what appears to be "flowing water" which is harmless. Great level and talisman and it was fun seeing gliders to upwards due to the updrafts. Only hackish part of my solution would be finding the safe spot from the needles trap though

Rose 7 - Helter Skelter Yea, I knew this was a reference to the Beatles song of the same name, especially as the title refers to a playground slide. Quite possibly the most intense song ever recorded, with I believe Twist and Shout the next closest. Reportedly, at the end of the song, Ringo Starr throws his drumsticks and yells the "I got blisters on my fingers!" line because of how much his hands hurt from all the drumming for this intense song. Anyway, very easy if you don't bother with the talisman, but significantly harder if you go for it, though I think only a little bit easier than Rose 1's.

Rose 8 - Sing Little Lemmings! Nice level, both that and the talismans, with neither one not that much harder from the normal solution, especially the silver one, thanks to the very lenient skillset. Love all the musical notes everywhere.

Rose 9 - I Don't Fall That Way! It may be a jumpers only level, but it's not a trivial one by any means. Not hard as long as you see where each of the specialists need to go in order to make it safely through the level.

Rose 10 - Antisociology Not too hard either but still a pretty enjoyable one to work out, though the constructive skills ran out much quicker than I thought they would. Talisman luckily isn't too difficult or very tight on the time attack, as long as you multi-task even slightly efficiently.

Rose 11 - King for a Day First level with 3 talismans and I would say the silver one with the 12 builders max is the hardest one, as I fortunately already tend to go for save all's and the theme of trying to beat the levels under 10 minutes if a 10 minute time limit isn't present. As Armani mentions, it may appear very daunting and difficult, but it really isn't that bad thanks to the lenient skillset. The builder limit for the silver and gold talismans are the hardest IMO as mentioned. Great level and this was another really fun one to try and figure out the talismans for with the pre-placed hero specialist!

Rose 12 - The Goldfish Bowl As you've already told me, I completely overlooked sending a Lemming from the left entrance over the top via climbing and hence it's not true that it needs help from the right entrance Still a great level with a nice talisman to boot.

Rose 13 - Doorman Skillset may look quite lenient here, but the builders especially ran out much faster than I thought. Luckily there are skills to help easily with ascending with the stackers the rest of the way when trying to conserve the builders. The right entrance is certainly the hardest to get up safely, though in general the fire traps at critical spots made it difficult to ascend safely regardless. Still had fun trying to figure this one out while being as efficient with the skills as much as possible

Rose 14 - Random Acts of Kindness Ah, looks like this was the level that wasn't acceptable to submit for LDC #22 based on your response to Armani's solution for the level. Yea, I can see why, since all the zombies are contained here, which the rule didn't allow you to do. Thus, you submitted Random Acts of Nastiness instead. Anyway, this level was also fun to figure out and play. Looks difficult at first glance but it wasn't too bad once I realized the best way to get a worker over the top, as before for some reason I thought everyone needed to get over the top together, when only one is necessary to have your pioneer/trailblazer Nice job, and I especially like how the neutrals are completely helpless because they're stuck in their own hole in the large wall!

Rose 15 - You Gotta Go There To Come Back! Another nice level that I didn't have too much of a problem with running out of skills, though both the platformers and builders ran out much quicker than I expected It sounds like Armani made things a bit harder by going through the bottom from the right side rather than over the top like I did

Rose 16 - Hurry Up and Wait! I would say this is quite possibly the first hardest level of the pack, as the solution isn't really obvious in any way especially given the very limited skillset. Luckily for the talisman I didn't have to tweak my normal solution much to obtain it. Very nice puzzle with figuring out how to get everyone down safely and also with achieving the compression to get through the trap before the exit with minimal losses!

Rose 17 - The Lem's Too Strong Nice 1 Lemming level! Like the jumpers only level earlier in the rank, this is still far from trivial. Quite honestly, even though I know about the jumper => shimmier transition, I didn't think it would work based on how far the terrain is from the conveyor belt, so I was surprised to see that it does work, but it seems to be very pixel precise? Also, I think this was what made me check to see what was going on here with why the Lemming is allowed to shimmy, as it turns out a one-way conveyor belt is placed right on top of an exact identical conveyor belt that is steel, which is why shimmying is allowed. Once again, I overlooked cancelling a shimmier with a walker, as I keep forgetting about this!

Rose 18 - Across the Ice Cap we go! Harder than I expected but isn't too bad at all, especially once you figure out how to get your worker(s) to go over the top via the left side of the level. Even then, still not trivial, especially as the middle area is a bit tricky to navigate. Knowing myself, I probably made my solution a bit harder than it needed to be though            

Rose 19 - Airbubble Chamber This one was really fun to play and solve Wow, I even bested Armani's talisman record, so this could potentially be a separate talisman of beating by using no climbers in addition to keeping the talisman for Armani's record

Rose 20 - Around the Back of Shearing Hill Top Another fun one to figure out. Can't believe I didn't even notice the steel in the bottom left to stop the miner Definitely would had made the end part a lot easier than the way I did it!That was pretty much my favorite part of the solution with a worker coming from the other side to get over the exit and come back to release the crowd. Nicely done!

Rose 21 - Only in Dreams The first boss stage of the pack and much easier than several of the levels before it. This was really fun to play and solve, both the normal way and talisman! Can't believe I didn't see the entrance at the bottom right     

Shield 1 - Perfect Situation Easy level to start off the rank but much harder if you go for the talisman. Even harder if you try and go for the save all like I spent so long in trying to get it to work! It turns out that it's possible but very hard to pull off and it just barely works with the skillset provided along with the restriction of no stackers allowed. Wow! Not sure why I bothered, but you know me, I love my save all's

Shield 2 - Vegas Two Times Even easier than the previous level, though here unfortunately losses will need to be accepted Timing isn't too tight at all with making the splatform before using up all the swimmers, made easier by how you don't need everyone to use both exits.

Shield 3 - Ride Across The River Excellent level with some neat tricks: Plugging up the gap with the stoner, extending the basher by providing a staircase for it to slide down, and to time it so that the basher destroys the wall before the climber can go up and die to the trap. This last one is a bit difficult to achieve, but it's the only way to solve the level. Then of course using the climber to bomb the wall near the exit to make a nice ramp up. Excellent job with this level!

Shield 4 - Jumping across the Oil Ocean Easy one despite the 2-of-everything skillset. Still enjoyed this one very much

Shield 5 - Lithium Stretch One of the hardest levels of the rank IMO but still an excellent level! I really love the path the swimmers take at the bottom in order to make the rest of the route and for one to come back for the crowd to take later on over the top. Carefully managing the builders is the hardest part of the level IMO, especially as you need 3 to get to the exit.

Shield 6 - Saving Amy! Another great swimmer level here, with I also agree with rescuing the bottom left entrance being the hardest part of the level. Getting up  over the top to make the route to get the others up later on can also be a bit difficult. As you've told me, I found a bug with the water on the right being placed a pixel too high. Not sure if the swimmers being able to get into the basher tunnel the way they did in my solution is intended though.

Shield 7 - Having A Blast Due to how you need to bomb away the walls in order to keep the platformer going so he doesn't get interrupted, I thought this level was inspired by a Genius level from LPII Solution isn't hard to figure out, it's the execution and timing that's difficult. Great level and was fun seeing it all work out

Shield 8 - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place! Quite an easy level, though only a little bit harder with the 42/50 talisman but is a significant challenge with the 47/50 talisman but luckily there's still plenty of skills and is still pretty open-ended all things considered. In the end, my solution could had been made a lot easier had I known about the triggers not being where I expected them to be, but meh, my solution works and still got to give props to me for not using CPM to help me out!

Shield 9 - This is How I Roll! As was pointed out, it's much easier to ascend on the right side than the left as in my solution. I also completely failed to see the lattice as a way to get further up without the need to use so many bombers Even with this eliminated, this isn't exactly what I consider a favorite of mine due to repeatedly bombing not being my cup of tea

Shield 10 - Happy Hour Very fun to solve especially when going for the save all. Not sure why I thought the terrain where the bottom right button is is steel though Other than that, I agree with Flopsy this is one of his best designed levels in this tileset! Well done

Shield 11 - Snow Way Out! Somewhat challenging but it's not too difficult. Getting up the left side is a bit tricky but luckily it's not too fiddly to pull off. Turning around at the top to be able to mine the crowd out can also be a bit challenging, but you do have the means to do so, and luckily there's multiple spots for you to be able to do so. Nice level!

Shield 12 - Endless Bummer Not as difficult as it looks despite appearances. If anything, once you realize how to get your worker by sending two on ahead one of which to block to turn the other around at the top, the rest should be easy. Getting up the level can still be difficult, but it mostly depends on how and where you ascend. Luckily my non-talisman solution needed a few small tweaks to get the silver talisman. Another great level IMO.

Shield 13 - Your Local Hero Very fun to work out and solve with getting the different specialists around to rescue each of the 4 entrances in their own separate corners. I agree with Armani that the bottom left entrance is the most difficult to rescue, though things can certainly be made a lot easier by sending the disarmer specialist. Even then, both talismans shouldn't be too terribly difficult considering the very generous skillset, with the skill you likely have to watch out for are the builders.

Shield 14 - Run Like Quick Sand Easy level as long as you realize how to get the glider over the top. Took me a while to figure out that the glider doesn't need the help of other skills to do so and that I somehow overlooked the fact you can assign the glider skill right away with Lemmings that fall out of the entrance to gain the height to achieve that Excellent level and one of my favorites!

Shield 15 - Painted Lines Another one of my favorites! Solution can still be a bit difficult to figure out especially with the 99RR and save all requirement. Here I completely overlooked the easy way to achieve the talisman and made it more complicated than it needed to be

Shield 16 - Let's take a Hot Bath! Not as hard as I thought, especially with miners and platformers as your only means to get up the level, but stoners and stackers can be used in combination with them. Flopsy has pointed out to me that the 20 platformer pickups is a mistake, so I've now went back and see if I can solve the level with the correct 10 platformer pickups only. I've labeled my second solution as the one where I was able to solve the level with less than the 10 allotted Fun level to see where how the worker goes and glides about the level to make the route

Shield 17 - Speed Dash Mountain Pretty much what I consider the hardest level of the pack up to this point, though it isn't helped by the fact that I came up with a really hackish solution in the end. It took a very long time to find, as I kept being at least a skill short or came up short on the save requirement I honestly was so relieved to finally solved the level after working it out for about 1.5 hours. I figured out how to get up the level on the right side pretty quickly, but it took a very long time to find a solution that works. Great level, but wow, didn't think skills but especially getting up the level with both entrances be so problematic!

Shield 18 - The Omega Standard Not too difficult, but not easy either given the very limited amount of digging destructive skills. There's luckily a few ways to go about the level and it's not too stressful despite the splat hatch at the start thanks to the very low 1RR. Nice level.

Shield 19 - There's A Star in the Night Sky Really nice 1-of-everything here. The hardest part of the solution for me to see was building to connect to the wall and then digging immediately once he turns around in order to get down safely. As a matter of fact, a level featuring this trick is something I definitely plan to make for my pack

Shield 20 - Back to the Shack Another excellent level, though like Armani it took me a while to see the digger to get another climber up the level who won't have the glider available because the first climber has it. Excellent solution and quite fun to solve and figure out!

Shield 21 - This Is Lemmings! Definitely harder than the previous rank finisher but still not too hard despite the very limited amount of skills other than the builders. Even then, don't be fooled by the amount of builders, even after you collect more via the pickups. Another nice rank finisher here                    

Ring 1 - Casino is the Night Wow, already quite hard to start off the rank. I pretty much agree with everything Armani says about the level, that's it's hard to know where to contain the crowd and even after doing so it's also hard to get back up the level. The no walkers talisman was especially hard to figure out but it was very satisfying to had finally obtained it! Excellent level to start off the Ring rank!

Ring 2 - Street of Orange Light It may be a 5-of-everything, but it's still challenging IMO. The end part was especially hard for me as I kept coming up short on skills to get myself up the entire way to the exit. Once again, knowing about the finnicky trap triggers not lining up as the graphic would suggest would had helped me see how to conserve and be more efficient with skills. This I brought on myself of course with intentionally not using CPM while recording myself LPing Nice level nevertheless

Ring 3 - It Isn't Over One of the best levels of the entire rank! The digger usage is really clever here, as precise as it needs to be. Very fun to puzzle and figure out the solution! Well done

Ring 4 - Unplanned Roadworks Cool concept with the digger cancelling one another, just not my cup of tea due to the repetitiveness on assigning the same skill over and over. Not a bad level at all, just that I happen to not be much of a fan of levels where you need to assign the same skill over and over, especially if it's in a really short amount of time. I do understand why the wall is as high as it is though

Ring 5 - Lemmtris featuring Hydrocity Zone This was pretty fun to work out with getting the climber/swimmer worker around the level in order to rescue both entrances, as well as how to get to the buttons to unlock the exit. Here, I definitely could had used the floater to make things so much easier, but I didn't only because I thought that was the talisman Should had known it was for completing in under 10 mins as you have pointed out to me if the level doesn't have a time limit.

Ring 6 - Climbing the Wall Very fun to see really long miners in action here! The solution came easily to me when I approached the level by starting with the entrance that has very easy access to the teleporter. Nicely done with this level!

Ring 7 - Fight or Flight? Another one of my favorites of the rank! Once I saw where the shimmier is used and where it goes, then working backwards lead easily to the solution. Excellent solution!

Ring 8 - Reach for the Stackers Nessy! Nice level dedicated to Nessy here, and one that wasn't as bad as I thought considering that I consider levels that give a lot of stackers "hard for kaywhyn" levels I think I can easily save a stacker that I used to delay a Lemming so that he doesn't get trapped in the pit on the bottom right, but meh, couldn't bother myself to tweak it to get that. Besides, it still netted me the talisman

Ring 9 - Sacred Hearts Club Not as difficult as it looks despite the 1-of-everything skillset. Getting down safely with the top entrances is certainly the hardest part IMO. I managed to save two skills here. Nice level, with probably the only critique I have being it's probably a bit too tight on the splat distance, but it's a minor one, so it's fine I suppose

Ring 10 - Homewrecker v2 In contrast to Armani, I consider this a pretty hard level. So many possibilities that look like they can work but they actually don't. Getting into the small area to shimmy and then bash through the OWW at the bottom wasn't as hard as I thought, but it took me a long time to figure out how to get all entrances out with the very limited skillset. Great level, and this would be the newest hardest level of the pack for me, though it's probably about the same difficulty as Shield 17 for me, with the latter maybe a bit harder.

Ring 11 - The Last Blocker Fairly easy to work out how to do the level, just took me a really long time to figure out how to get the timing to all work out with getting the gaps done in time before needing to release the blocker and crowd, as a lot of my earlier attempts the solution failed due to the second gap not being done in time. I'm surprised to hear that cloning to get over the blocker to bomb him free is intended, but nice to know I got the intended solution!

Ring 12 - Do It With Love Another nice level which didn't take me anywhere near as long as the previous level. Getting up the miner tunnel is a bit precise, but it can be done without the stacker (talisman solution, which I could had gotten first try but I ended up using the wrong skill to spare ), with some really good timing.

Ring 13 - I Can Do It Without You Not as hard as I thought, though I would say the hardest part of the level is figuring out the best route through the level. Nice to know that going over the top as much as possible is the intended route. Didn't realize the horizontal bar where the entrance is is part of the graphics for the hatch. Nice level.

Ring 14 - Do You Wanna Get High? Another great level with a great solution, both normal and talisman! I would say the hardest part is knowing where to put the blocker in order to be able to free it later without also endangering the crowd later, though my guess is that it's easier to do it on the right side of the plane, as I believe Armani freed it with the final Lemming from the hatch.

Ring 15 - Orange Dream Another fun one that I enjoyed working my way through Took me a while to see that I was using the first cloner inefficiently, but once I did to realize to be able make other parts of the solution much easier later on, then the solve came easily. Guess I forgot about the vertical poles being part of the exit graphic. That's how long it's been since I last played levels in this graphic set, even though I've already played two of them earlier in the pack!

Ring 16 - Sandopolis Cathedral Looks daunting and difficult, but it wasn't too bad despite appearances. I really enjoyed working my way through this one too! Excellent solution, especially with everyone going over the top near the end while having a climber worker go through the bottom to dig away the final pole before the exit in order to make a splatform. Probably my only critique is the very precise builder/cloner after mining, but that's probably just how it is when it comes to the miner skill.

Ring 17 - Welcome to Flopadopolis Another fun one to play and solve! I really love how the solution all comes together if you do it correctly. Digger was probably the hardest to see in the solution, as the other parts are quite easy.

Ring 18 - Static Space Lover Another one that wasn't as difficult as I thought despite having a large amount of stackers. Also one with a really low RR so that it's not too stressful and hence you can either keep the crowds moving or not. Plenty of ways to go about the level. Going over the top to reach the exit is quite clever, and I love how the climber/gliders get over the stack at the bottom to reach the exit on their own

Ring 19 - Out into the Yard! Fun level to work out which is harder than expected due to the 4-of-everything skillset. It is of the open-ended type, but it's not as open-ended as you might think. Even then, have at it how you want

Ring 20 - Lems At Work Hard one for me, and I agree with Armani that rescuing both the bottom Lemmings is hard to figure out. This one took me a while. Skills ran out quicker than I thought, and it's not easy to work out how to get up the level when all you have are climbers and only stackers and platformers, while your only digging destructive skill are diggers. Plenty of possibilities that look like they can work but actually don't. Nice level concept though

Ring 21 - Let's Ride Very fun one to work out on a really nicely designed level by Wafflem! Luckily a save all is possible, but it's not easy to figure out how to do so by any means. Very nice rank finisher and well done to you and Wafflem with it!                    

Sneaker 1 - Stuck in the Middle With You Really nice level to start off the rank! Figuring out how to build from both sides of the lava gaps is clever, especially the one before the exit, as is sending the preplaced climber to go over the top from the far left side. Well done

Sneaker 2 - We All Mine Down! Backroute #1 as you've mentioned. Also you mention this being hell to backroute fix, and as we've seen it's still not properly patched up. Sorry about that, but I will backroute levels if I see an opportunity to

Sneaker 3 - 69 and OUT! Very nice level, with the platformer used to extend the basher being quite clever. Time limit is probably a bit too tight, but luckily it can be avoided being a problem by just sending the climber over quite early.

Sneaker 4 - Let's Play Some Games! I remember this one from LDC #22, with the rule being NL skills/objects only. This is much harder than I remembered, though it's probably because it got patched it from the time I submitted my last solution during the several months before the pack's release later that same year. Still a nice level but with a lot of gotcha's to watch out for.

Sneaker 5 - The Lemming Waterfall Connection This was really fun to play and solve! I really like how you need to switch sides at least once in order to be able to rescue the entrances due to the water in the middle as well as the OWAs allowing only one way through. Pretty lenient skillset so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Sneaker 6 - Harpenden Square Very quick solve, just need to make sure to multi-task a bit and you'll be fine with finishing on time.

Sneaker 7 - Get Up and Fly Right This on the other hand I really struggled with I kept trying to fiddle with something in order to try and get the climber to beat the builder on time, but it wouldn't work no matter what. I also had the wrong idea of using the glider to come back and do both the digging and bashing. This turns out to be very wrong, as you'll always run out of time no matter what, even if you do manage to find a way to get the climber to beat the builder just in the very nick of time. Instead, you have to the digging with one Lemming and the other one does the bashing. The digger will continue to the steel and stop who then platforms, and he'll have more than enough time to finish the gap on time as the basher takes a while to release the crowd. Very nice level, but wow, didn't expect to have a really hard time here!

Sneaker 8 - The Edge of Glory Not as hard as it looks, but not a cake walk either. My solution really did look hackish so I thought it was a backroute, but since it nets the talisman my solution is fine as Flopsy mentions. Nice level.

Sneaker 9 - Your Latest Trick Nice somewhat challenging level, with the 99 RR the hardest to deal with despite the Lemmings going out in both directions. Nice trick with using a stacker at the edge to bomb the middle platform and to then get another Lemming that slips by to glide and land on it, while the last one platforms up the gap to be contained between the stack and the crowd. Must be done on the left side in order to be able to collect both pickups to finish the level. The area that the up OWAs cover is quite deceptive, though I think that's just thanks to the design and nature of them to make you think that it's not possible to mine at all just by looking at it.

Sneaker 10 - Rescue Plan Nice 5-of-everything level in the classic 8 skills that isn't too hard but not a cake walk either. The builders I found to the most problematic, though I also found the other destructive skills to be a problem too. Still, an open-ended level so have at it

Sneaker 11 - Flow Rider Nice water version level of Going Up...... I thought this would be pretty fiddly to get both entrances up and out of their containment areas, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. It does require a lot of precision though, especially the talisman. I thought I would be stuck on the talisman for a really long time, but luckily I wasn't. Mining with the right entrance to rescue the left entrance is pretty clever Well done to Armani for the talisman though!

Sneaker 12 - Sector 4T Lemmings Oh wow, another really hard level that I struggled for a long time on. There are several possibilities that look like they could work but actually don't. It was somewhat frustrating because every time I thought I was onto something I run into problems with not having the necessary skills because I used a critical one too early or in the wrong place. I think once I dismissed not being able to mine through a builder staircase the get the crowd out as a possibility then that allowed me to focus on finding a completely different way better, but it still took me a long time. I really like the gliding near the exit and digging right away to prevent a climber from going out the side and walking into the fire trap. I think that's the first time I've ever seen this TBH, which largely contributed to me taking a while to getting the level solved. Nice level and well done again to you on using Armani's solution as the new intended way!

Sneaker 13 - Let It All Hang Out Didn't take me anywhere near as long as the previous level, especially as it's much easier to see the bashing away the stack to allow the climbers through to glide and land on the middle and exit platforms to make the catching platformer bridges. Nice level!

Sneaker 14 - The Cascade Swimathon Harder than I thought it would be, especially with working out how to do the middle area to get both entrance down safely and also to not lose anyone. Talisman solution took me a while to figure out, though it seems that I made both the non-talisman and talisman solutions harder than they needed to be Even then, great level and design and yes, nice throwback to the long staircase on Cascade on both sides which I failed to notice!

Sneaker 15 - Geronimo! One of my favorites! Solution was fun to figure out, with the only hard part being to time the climbers right so you can bounce the miner off with a blocker.

Sneaker 16 - Shining Light Another favorite of mine! Came close in some of my earlier attempts, but then I spotted a way to save the miner from needing to be used to free the blocker as it is useful somewhere else. I really like how the climber hatch can either all go over the top or can take the same route as the non-climber hatch Very nice solution where the passthrough blocker solution happens to also work as it's in the right spot to be able to dig it free AND release the climber hatch.

Sneaker 17 - Full Circle Can be fiddly to execute but luckily it's a really short level. Nice builderless level and again with using Armani's solution as the new intended way!

Sneaker 18 - The Sonic Mini Not as hard as it looks despite the very limited skillset. Even then, it's still challenging to figure out how to get up to the exit with the very limited amount of builders. Great level and design

Sneaker 19 - Watch Them Fly Sundays Backroute #2 but especially one that's far worse than Sneaker 2 backroute Sorry for beating you here again.

Sneaker 20 - Jardin de Flopsy Another favorite of mine! I especially like how to get a glider to land on top and dig away the OWW to free the bottom entrance and also with the route through to the exit that the worker must make from the other side thanks to the OWAs. Once again, deception with the OWAs where I thought you needed to build to get higher and be able to get past the OWW

Sneaker 21 - Dawn Treader Another level I struggled with a lot more than I thought I would and is so far the first and only level that needed me to switch to offline time to try and solve the level. Turns out I more or less had much of the solution correct, just the brute forcing my way through the narrow corridor above the exit was wrong. That made me waste unnecessary builders and thus kept preventing me from getting the level solved. The key moment was when I saw that the right entrance doesn't need help from the left entrance to be released. Instead, they can just build to get out. Not sure why I didn't see that before Then I worked my way backwards from there as I was certain I would now be able to get the level solved thanks to it allowing me to save up the builders and other critical skills for other parts of the level. After struggling a lot here, I would agree here that the level is probably a bit underranked, but if the intention is for this to be another rank finisher, then this would be moved up too far. It's probably only a little bit difficult and hence only needs to be pushed up a level slots anyway. For sure this is the hardest rank finisher so far. Well done again to Wafflem on a great level design and to you for stumping me with the solution!                  

Emerald 1 - Bad Day At Faraday's Nice level to start off the rank. It wasn't that difficult to figure out, especially as it's a stacker/cloner to contain the crowds at the top. The middle entrance also does that in the intended way, but if you place the stacker at the right spot you can make it a one-way blocker and hence you wouldn't need it.

Emerald 2 - Four Little Lems A bit harder than the previous level, but this was a nice level with 3 different specialists in their own cells and so you need to choose the right one to release in a particular order to be able to do solve the level. Even then, it's an open-ended level that still provides enough skills so that it's not really necessary to have the disarmer disable the traps for example. It's nice there's multiple ways to do the level and hence one specific solution isn't intended or forced other than the climber needs to be first to be released due to the tall OWW.

Emerald 3 - Fun With Flags One of my favorites of the rank! Solution isn't too hard to figure out and it can be mostly easily deduced with logic based on how and where the preplaced Lemmings are. I really love how the basher and digger are used to release each of the preplaced blockers! Only thing that took me a while was figuring out how to overcome the swimmer skill deficiency, until I realized the multiple Lemmings in the bottom left can just climb up the far left wall to take the top route to the exit. As such, I would say the builder is the hardest to figure out where it goes in the solution, since there's a few possibilities but they're all red herrings except for the correct spot in the intended way. Well done with this level!

Emerald 4 - Be Back In A Moment Probably harder than any of the previous 3 levels but still not too hard despite the 99RR. There's luckily multiple ways to solve the level so really the hard part is first managing the crowd at the start and then once you're successful then finding an efficient route through the level so that you have enough to get up the tricky lattice structure below the exit. Nice level

Emerald 5 - Jump For Joy! Nice level concept with bunny hopping from stoner to stoner with the preplaced climber/floater with a solution that's somewhat obvious to figure out, just difficult on the execution since you need to the stoners placed in the right spots. It's also hard to manage the crowd since there isn't any leeway in the amount you can lose except for all the stoners and two blockers after using the cloner. Love the builder/cloner of the climber/floater, as well as the cancel the digger with a blocker!

Emerald 6 - Sit Next To Me Hard solution to figure out given the very limited skillset and also how to manage the multiple entrances that are all preassigned climbers except for the top entrance which just releases one disarmer. Here the highlight feature came in real handy to keep track of where the disarmer is. Luckily the nice thing is if the disarmer is near the very front by the time the wall is breached then the climbers are delayed by the wall on the far left to give the disarmer enough time to disable the traps. Only thing I'm quite confused about is why a miner can't release the blocker of the middle right entrance but a digger can. Probably just another one of those deceptive up OWA area coverage. Nice level concept!

Emerald 7 - Bury Those Feet in the Sand Not too difficult despite appearances and the 2-of-everything skillset. Very nice solution especially with where the miners need to go and how to send a climber over the top of the level. Nearly got the talisman on my first try but I used an unnecessary extra skill to help the crowd get to the exit

Emerald 8 - Harden The Paint Another one that wasn't as hard as I thought, especially as it's fortunately not too difficult to be able to release the crowd with a stacker thanks to how small the space between the wall and blocker is. The only really hard part of the level is timing the release of climbers to come and block at the right spot and time to turn the builder to reach both the middle and top platforms with only a builder each, though the same can be said with the final builder for the bottom platform. Talisman solution fortunately also needed a minor tweak of my normal solution to obtain. Nice level concept here

Emerald 9 - Pinball Wizard Quite possibly the hardest level of the rank up to this point of the pack, that even though the skillset looks somewhat lenient it turns out to be quite restrictive. I once again overlooked the usefulness of the lattice to get higher up the level, as before that I kept trying to fiddle around with the miner to get as low as possible to be able to get the right entrance up the large structure to the latter's left. Nice level despite it taking me some time before I succeeded.

Emerald 10 - Pick A Part That's New Not as hard as it appears, especially as it's quite easy to spot the best use of the miner, though I found it difficult to get the timing right to put the blockers in the right spot to keep it going. As Flopsy has told me, my solution's a backroute, so this would be backroute #3 by me I still found this to be a nice level despite that and not easy by any means

Emerald 11 - The Curse of Lady Bay Nice level that has multiple ways of doing the level, though I believe in most solutions the builders are exhausted. It might still be possible to have a spare builder or two though. It's also not too difficult to rescue the splat hatch before you run out of gliders thanks to the very lenient 11-of-everything skillset, especially as the hatch can rescue themselves rather than need assistance from the other hatches. This was fun and enjoyable to play!

Emerald 12 - Random Acts of Nastiness This was the level that was submitted for LDC #22 R3. Watching Icho's solution, yea I'm sure the bomber was the way I was able to make a turnaround point for the zombies and then a stacker to prevent the normal Lemmings from getting in their way. Instead, here I was fortunate enough for no one to make contact with a zombie, even if one came quite near to getting zombified. I also remember this one being a pretty good level itself. Nice to know there's still a few alternatives through the level.

Emerald 13 - Dance Like A Fire Hard one for me, especially as we have a preassigned climber entrance and hence we need to manage them very carefully as it seems that you apparently can't contain them in the area right below it. I tried that initially and there doesn't seem to be enough skills for that? Or maybe there is, I just didn't do the level efficiently enough. I agree with the use of the digger to release the climbers all the way up to the very top. I initially thought they needed to go left, then right again to get to the top of the level. If that really was the way to go, then it would probably be next-to-impossible to do so, since the area is very small to platform to catch the others and they would need to be really compressed. Luckily, that's not the right way to do the level, and I was quick to abandon that approach when I saw a much better way through the level. This was still a nice level even if it took me a while before I solved it

Emerald 14 - Death and Destruction Another one of my favorites of the rank, whether the regular solution or the talisman, but I especially like the latter even better! Somewhat hard level with a bit of a non-obvious solution, with the hardest part of the solution to figure out IMO being how to deal with the OWW obstacle at the very start. Also same with how to contain the crowd with a somewhat high RR on a tiny platform. Once you're successful with that, then the rest of the level is a bit easier, though still challenging. While I figured out the normal solution fairly quickly, the talisman took me much longer, since the stacker was exactly what I saw the best use of at the bottom right to get the level solved in the first place The lightbulb moment for me was realizing that the glider and climber skills are on separate Lemmings, not both on the same one. Not sure why that took me a while to figure out to be honest. Well done with this level!

Emerald 15 - Life on the Nickel Another hard level to figure out the solution, whether normal route or talisman, but especially the latter was hard to figure out just like the previous level. The former has a really tricky timing element in order to block and turn the builder to get over the top. The latter luckily doesn't, but it's a much harder route to figure out. The lightbulb moment was figuring out that you need to breach the OWW from the other side via a bomber in order to make the ceiling thin enough for the others to step up through once the fencer stops. This I consider a nice level, just the OWAs everywhere kind of made the level look a lot more unsightly

Emerald 16 - Down the Hillside! A level where I struggled a lot more than I thought I would, similar to Sneaker 7. Timing is tight to get builder bridge done on time before the crowd arrives, but you also need to do the level in such a way that no one can make another round in the pit as there's not enough time to do so. Other than figuring out where the do the mining and digging, the solution execution is fairly difficult given the 99RR. Still a nice level here!

Emerald 17 - The Eskdale Drive Much easier than the previous level, though I apparently did the level slightly different from intended. I kind of had the feeling it should be possible to use two jumpers on the first Lemming to get far enough ahead to allow only one Lemming past the stack, I just did it wrong. So, I just had the second Lemming that would had gotten past the stack be the digger to collect the pickup below the entrance Nice level and solution, especially with making the miner (who also stops the basher by reaching in front of him early ahead of time) the swimmer so that he will be safe!

Emerald 18 - Tabloid Superjunkie Not as hard as I thought, though it's certainly quite hard to figure out how to get up to the exit given you only have stackers, diggers, and bombers to do so. Totally forgot about that unnecessary loss at the start that prevented me from winning, but luckily it was an easy tweak at the start while keeping the rest of the solution the same. Also I apparently wasted a stacker in trying to get the walker pickups, as the climber is able to climb past the overhang of the pipe terrain That spare stacker certainly would had helped me quite a bit! Nice level nevertheless

Emerald 19 - Confessions in the Pool Fun one to figure out and one which was harder than it looked due to the pretty restrictive skillset. Once again, I unnecessarily wasted a stacker due to how I thought the button at the top lead to the deadly ceiling In fairness, it's really difficult to tell that it's piece of terrain in the way, as it kind of blends in well with the background Nah, I'm blind, especially as I've been wearing glasses for almost 30 years. Anyway, that spare stacker would had helped me quite a bit here too! Nicely done with the level design!

Emerald 20 - Loyal Like Mark and Alice I saw the very long miner pretty much right away, just took me a long time to figure out how to not lose anyone to the water in the bottom right. I definitely consider that the hardest part of the solution, given the 99RR for two entrances. Took me a long time to figure out that making the first Lemming out of the top entrance a glider gives him just barely enough of a head start to close off the gap from both sides with two separate specialists. Also took me a while to wrap my head around of how and where the blockers needed to be, as for a long time I couldn't get away from thinking a blocker needs to be used to hold the top entrance back, which also unfortunately clashed with my thinking that all of them need to be used to bounce and turn the miner. The timing of the blockers was frustrating to get right, especially as the miner needs to be precisely placed and all blockers need to be in the right spots at the right time during the miner animation. In some of my near success attempts, I had expected the miner to continue down the staircase in the middle, only to not because it's 1-2 pixels too low I do like the level and its solution, just frustrating to get right, though with the miner/builder combo it's always precise.

Emerald 21 - "DMA" the Movie! A much easier rank finisher than the previous one, though still no cakewalk. For me, I personally consider the finnicky structure with the up OWAs the hardest part of the level, as I pretty much figured the other parts out pretty quickly. I would agree with Armani that the camera near the exit can be tricky to traverse too to get the crowd up and to the exit. Great level to finish off the rank!