Why does everyone naturally think that I get stuck on packs? I stop playing the packs when they stop becoming fun to play when the levels are just too much stress, I get no satisfaction from solving them and I feel a grudge towards the pack creator. Those don't make for fun youtube videos.
Pretty accurate description!
Exactly that happens to me with many of the harder packs out there... and yes, when it happens to me, I call that "getting stuck". I'm not just stuck when I reach a level I can't solve at all, but also when I see a level where I know I might be able to figure it out, but only if I invest a whole hour into it.
Virtual problems of virtual green-haired people aren't really worth that much effort.
I think the "grudge towards the pack creator" is part of the experience by now
. I remember a video title of Arty playing SEB Lems "Part XY: In which Flopsy gets blamed for Arty's stupidity".
To most of us it's probably obvious that usually, pack creators don't want to troll the player, but just create a good challenge; and pack creators know they don't have to take it personally when someone curses at them while fiddling around with a level.
Also I'm sick of this Flopsy stereotype with levels where they have solutions which seem obvious but then when my initial approach doesn't work, I get upset and call the level stupid, I'm not the only Lemmings player who has ever done that in the history of Lemmings Let's Plays.
I can only speak for myself here, but aside from "release rate 99 + save everyone", I don't even know of any stereotypes about you
. You told me about gliders + stoners in unison, but only after I had created such a level.
The only case where I'm deliberately creating levels in style of or "as hated by" other players is going to be the Encore / "Groupie" rank in Lemmings World Tour. And that's going to be 1-2 levels per user maximum.
Regarding the Lemmicks issues, I explained my reasons for postponing the LP and I feel my reasons are legitimate.
Of course they are!
I'm not urging you to do anything, I was just a little amused by the fact that first you decide to cancel all Lemmings packs and then go on to say there are not enough out there. That's a bit like saying there's not enough food left at the buffet when there's merely nothing left of what you enjoy the most
.
NepsterLems gives me a headache, but I know it's there, and if I had no other pack to play, I'd certainly be playing it more. In fact, for me it's the
abundance, not the lack of alternatives that demotivates me from putting more time into NepsterLems - other packs are just more rewarding ^^.
Generally speaking, I doubt any creator's packs are going to get easier the more they build, though. Most of us try to make their puzzles better, i.e. more challenging, with every release.
If there's a paradigm shift now and several creators (starting with you and nin10adict) agree to make future packs a little easier again, I'll happily join in on that and go back to creating more stupid theme levels like in Paralems!
But so far, I got the impression that these easier levels are considered boring by most of the community; and while it's clear that "good puzzle" doesn't mean "hard puzzle", most of us probably want something that at least somewhat "tickles their brain" when they solve it
.
Basically, I don't like the person I'm playing in my videos, I feel like Lemmings brings out the worst in my personality especially when it seems some levels are going out of the way to be stupidly difficult.
Now, that's a whole other thing! Yeah, I certainly know that feeling when you're asking yourself "Why am I even playing this? Aren't games supposed to be fun?" I remember my brother putting a lot of time into the Magic: The Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers games on Steam, and was baffled how he could have that much stamina. For me, playing one of these, especially in the evening, mostly just resulted in me raging over the random generator that was more tilted to the player's disadvantage than actually being random - and then I'd just go to bed angry.
However, with NeoLemmix we fortunately have different options.
Have you considered simply doing more post-commentary videos? They are certainly more fun to watch than simple, uncommented replays. That's why I really just check out IchoTolot's channel for walkthrough purposes - or for his LP of Lemmings II where he couldn't just play the replay, but had to solve the level live on camera.
Post-commentary allows to re-adress each level in a calmer state of mind, rather than getting angry and frustrated on camera. And it's also more time efficient for the viewer. No one likes to see a Let's Player fiddling around for 90 minutes on one and the same level. Well, except for the level creator perhaps, who might get some "sadistic pleasure" from it, as nin10doadict called it - but certainly no one else
.
