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      

[kaywhyn]

Monday, August 31, 2026 stream is over, and I managed to solve Planet 13 offline, the remaining 7 levels of the Planet rank, and the first 8 levels of the Sun rank! Replays attached.

Regarding Planet 13, turns out I was a big dumb dumb, as I apparently can't tell the difference between terrain and what I erroneously thought was water at the bottom the entire time! Ok, the solution is slightly different to that in Nepster's Return of the Tribes, the latter which IMO has a far more clever use of the blocker in the level. Its use is somewhat clever in NepsterLix as well, just not as much Still, great level!

Planet 15 - No Matter What I try... is new to me. It looks hard but it wasn't too bad at all, especially as my solution should be a backroute given the skills I had leftover. Hence, it's not as hard as it should be.

The remaining Planet rank levels are all familiar to me from NepsterLems, though I used slightly different solutions to Cannonballs in the Air, Minor Obstacles, and The Marble Temple. While solving Minor Obstacles, I learned a nuisance of bombing in a miner tunnel in Lix, where it makes an unsurmountable wall. I believe SuperLemmini has this as well, so it's not new to me, but rather, I don't think I knew about this Lix mechanic until this stream. At the same time, because the bomber holes are different depending on whether you use the flinging bomber or non-flinging one, it might be surmountable with the flinging bomber (Edit: tested it, and yup, it is).

For the Sun rank, only Haunted Walls was new to me. Hard one, though I eventually solved it and it's probably a slight backroute, but it's an excellent level despite that!

I kind of dreaded playing Cliff Jumpers again in NepsterLix, as I remember the execution can be painful from NepsterLems. I checked my NL replay after I solved this level and turns out I more or less had the same solution, with the start done differently and done another thing differently to make execution a bit less painful and somewhat better skill management.

Lament of Innocence is a Sun rank level in Nepsterlix, whereas it's in the Black Hole rank (fifth and final rank) in NepsterLems, Black Hole 2 to be exact. I suppose its placement in NepsterLix is fine here, as IMO it honestly isn't too difficult of a level and not really much of a Black Hole level. On the other hand, I saw that Thin Layers is a Sun rank level in NepsterLix, whereas it's Black Hole 1 in NepsterLems. This is the level that was responsible for halting my progress in NepsterLems and hence prevented me from solving all of the pack for nearly 3 years! It is most definitely worthy of the Black Hole rank! From memory, Icho really had to convince Nepster to uprank Thin Layers to the Black Hole rank in NepsterLems. When this happened, Dunes in turn was downranked from Black Hole to Neutron Star, which I agree with, as Dunes is quite easy. I haven't played either Dunes or Thin Layers in NepsterLix yet, but I very likely will for Wednesday's stream (September 2, 2026). I'm simply pointing out the NepsterLems feedback on these two levels as best as I can recall them.

Can't wait to play more NepsterLix soon, and I continue to enjoy the pack very much!