NepsterLix

[kaywhyn]

August 28, 2026 stream is over and I managed to solve 10 more levels of the Planet rank, one of which was Altruism, the level that Simon skipped Replays attached

I also attempted Planet 13 - Choir of the Mad but was a no solve. I remember this level from Nepster's Return of the Tribes, the L2 level pack for Old Formats NL that Nepster never finished making, so it was just a matter of remembering the solution. There, it's remade in the L2 Medieval tileset. I wasn't able to remember the entire solution during the stream before I ended. I remember it involved some really clever use of the blocker, but what that is, I can't yet remember. The interesting thing is that I played through all the levels of the pack that Nepster made for Return of the Tribes last year. So, I apparently can remember solutions from 3-5 years ago but not from a year ago? It sure boggles the mind! At the same time, there's more, and that is I haven't spent anywhere near as much time on the Return of the Tribes levels as NepsterLems despite how the levels in the former are just as hard, if not harder, and it does feel a lot harder IMO.

Once I manage to solve Planet 13 offline I'll stream more of the pack. Still haven't figured it out yet, but I know the solution will come to me given time

This time, the ones that look like backroutes are Tomb Raider and Cubism. At least I'm certain I don't recall solving Tomb Raider from NepsterLems like the way I did the NepsterLix version. I remember not taking a shortcut at all for the level in the NepsterLems pack and taking the long way around pretty much the entire level.

Both Altruism and Cubism were new to me, as they're not in NepsterLems. The rest of the levels I've played are from NepsterLems, so it was more or less a matter of trying to remember the solution I used in the latter. I remembered the solution to Five do not Survive incorrectly for a few minutes before it came back to my memory. I might had also been wrong about using an RR timing based solution in the NepsterLems version of the level. Any levels where I did abuse the RR manipulation in NL I had to come up with a somewhat new solution, though luckily they didn't need too much of a tweak from the solution I used.

Regarding Altruism, yes, absolutely agree that it's too difficult for its position. It really reminds me of Scrap the Builders from NepsterLems, and IIRC that level is Sun 7 in the latter, which is the rank after Planet and hence the 4th rank. Indeed, Altruism greatly resembles the layout of Scrap the Builders, and the feedback given for the latter is that it really feels more of a Black Hole rank level, and I absolutely agree there! Especially as both Icho and namida struggled with it. I did as well, and that was the next level of the pack that caused me to quit the NepsterLems pack for a while back in 2020, after I was finally successful in getting past my previous roadblock, Planet 13 - 50% is not Enough. Ultimately, when I finally did return to the NL pack, I ended up using a really overcomplicated solution that just barely works thanks to the fast triggering needles trap of the L1 Pillar set. Also, Altruism feels way harder than the NepsterLems version of the level!

Enjoying the pack as usual and can't wait to play the rest! Great levels I remember them being, especially the new ones I haven't played because they're not in NepsterLems