Hi Strato,
I have finished the pack. My replays are attached. You already know, as well as some others, but I'll leave the link to the LP here too.
LWT New Formats LP:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbp2m4KlFpJvybDd6KW6DcKY8q6ZeMFfA Glad to see Strato, Apjjm, and Swerdis enjoying it
Since I've already posted feedback for the pack for Old Formats, I'm just going to copy/paste all of it here
No way am I spending half of the day writing feedback for all the same 320 levels again
In addition, I'll likely simply add on to the feedback only the ones that are different between Old Formats and New Formats.
Feedback on the Noisemaker RankSince this is yet again another first rank of tutorial levels, instead of feedback on every individual level (honestly, 40 is a lot in one rank, and I can't even begin to phantom how very long it will take me to write feedback on all 40 levels for each rank, especially the later ones) like I did with Paralems and Pit Lems, I'm just going to focus on a select few.
Being another first rank that's just tutorials, I'll be honest, and that is I was pretty bored with the rank, since I'm pretty much familiar with all of the tricks mentioned in the pre-text associated with each level The rank didn't feel as dull this time, perhaps because of all that time that lapsed from the last time I played any of your packs. Not to mention that I LPed the pack in real-time on camera, which definitely made it way more exciting for me, and you can probably tell that I was enjoying myself very much, even if I sometimes made a fool out of myself and was a dummy on a lot of the levels, which I will emphasize that those moments weren't just for shows, they're all genuine reactions, just like you said
However, because this rank is just "tutorial-like" levels teaching some tricks that will come back in later ranks and I'm already familiar with all of them, that probably means I probably could had skipped the Noisemaker rank entirely, but when it comes to playing packs I play all ranks anyway, so endure it I must. To be fair, this rank isn't the main meat and the real deal of the pack, since I believe the exciting stuff is in the Amateur rank and beyond. However, I believe I also gathered from the OP of this topic that the Amateur rank is similar to the Noisemaker with tutorial style levels, with the first few levels of the Amateur rank I have played so far being quite similar to the first few of Pit Lems in that they're being grouped by type of skills: constructive, destructive, horizontal movement, etc. up until a little over the halfway point of the rank. So, I think with this knowledge I will likely be bored even more until I'm past all of them in the Amateur rank.
Another thing about the Noisemaker levels is that they're also quite challenging. It's like you said, these aren't your very basic skill tutorial levels, there's also a real puzzle on top of introducing the skill mechanics rather than just their basic function. Even the first level already starts off a bit difficult, although I still think Noisemaker 1 is a bit easier than LOL 1 of Pit Lems. Heck, Basic 1 of Lemmicks is the easiest out of these first levels in the first rank. Now, I know that you said that nin10doadict thought Pit Lems got difficult too quickly and that you were essentially aiming for intermediate with LWT. I don't think that has been the case so far with the tutorial levels, but I'm only in the very early stages of the pack, so I'm likely speaking too soon. In particular, I think Noisemaker 4 -
Going under is the first level that will likely stump many players, as it really requires you to think about how to get through the multiple obstacles with the extremely limited amount of destructive skills. The level certainly does a great job of enforcing the idea needed, though, it's just a bit harsh with the very limited skillset IMO.
Noisemaker 5 -
Over the rainbow might also be another somewhat difficult level for the less experienced players.
I think here the biggest problem is that some will probably try building and then block at the end of the bridge, like I did a few times, only to find that you don't have enough walkers to save the blocker at the end of the bridge later, since you need 3. Instead, the solution involves blocking on even ground and letting a builder build into it to turn around and bridge the gap to the exit. Besides that, the other tricky thing is ensuring that no lemmings are nearby when blocking, as everyone needs to be saved.
I also consider Noisemaker 8 -
Glide and joy to be another unusually difficult level, not just because of how to get the trick to turn around on steel with builders and a digger, which you explained in more detail in the most recent update from earlier this year, but also because
digging out the bridge that closed the gap with the steel blocks is annoyingly precise, as you have to dig right at the last moment in order for the glider to make it across the water pond.
Noisermaker 10 -
Noel nouvelet is quite a nice somewhat challenging puzzle using only NL skills. I say the only tricky thing here is the placement of the stacker, especially when trying to make sure just the glider slips past and no other lemmings do.
Finally, not a difficult level per se, but I consider the trick needed in Noisemaker 33 -
Mein kleiner gruener Kaktus to be an extremely obscure one for less experienced players. I have known it for quite a while, and hence the level is easy for someone like me, but
I think it's not very clear to more casual players that assigning a blocker to a digger that's digging at the very edge such that the center is not digging anything won't result in the lemming blocking but instead releases the digger. Of course, to us more experienced players this makes sense, since if there's nothing being dug at the center where the lemming's feet are, then when it's assigned a blocker it technically isn't standing on anything and hence that's why it's released immediately. To other players, this is quite a leap to deduce.
It's also a pretty nice looking level too, although the giant OWW arrows really stand out and make the cacti not look as nice.
All other levels in the rank weren't as challenging as the ones mentioned above, although they're still challenging enough to require some thinking on how to solve. I really liked Noisemaker 21 -
Rainbow in the dark, which is a really close repeat of Noisemaker 5, using the builder wall trick at the end, which is first taught 3 levels prior.
There are levels that I would like to point out where I didn't really use the trick you intended in your spoiler list. I think Noisemaker 14 -
Digital World (I know what you mean in the spoiler list, but I certainly didn't use it, and I have skills leftover), Noisemaker 18 -
Stop and stair (I simply brute forced it and so I have a basher leftover, easiest fix here is to increase the number of lemmings so I can't pull off what I did in my replay), Noisemaker 22 -
Locked Away (I didn't assign any skills at the top of the walls to stop the climbers, and I don't think there's really any way to enforce this), and Noisemaker 30 -
In the Army (I don't know what you mean in the spoiler) are the ones I didn't use the trick you intended. For the last one, unless that's exactly you mean,
I simply used builders to turn around at the end, mined, and then simply bashed under the entire level.
A lot of these levels look really nice, even in the ones that use just the original styles. I got to say the nicest looking level in this rank is Noisemaker 15 -
Octopus's Garden, with Noisemaker 39 -
Vegas Lights a close second. I absolutely love the former song, as I'm a huge Beatles fan. Written primarily and sung by none other than Ringo Starr too, the one who contributed the least but occasional vocals as compared to his 3 bandmates in their songs. Hidden traps here, but the real saving grace is that it's a very short level and plus the locations of the traps in the octopus are kind of easy to guess at, although the level can still be a bit annoying to pull off. I'm not sure if my very temporary digger pit on the clam is intended, as well as getting past the trigger on top of it, is intended, though.
For the latter, I don't know the song, but I do know Panic at the Disco. Ugh, the excessive repetitive stoning assignments to get past 4 trap trigger areas!
Even after that, it can be a bit difficult to isolate a lemming to bridge the gap to the exit. Nevertheless, I do like how you included the Eiffel Tower replica, since it is there when you visit Las Vegas. Speaking of Vegas, the last time I went was way back in 2012, after I had just graduated from college. I should definitely make plans to come back and visit one of these days. Too bad I'm already in my 30s, and it's especially very difficult for me to take vacations nowadays.
Out of the 40 levels in this rank, I recognized 11 of them by title. Others I don't know the song, but I recognized the artist's name. It surprises me that you even know about singers like Katy Perry, Duran Duran, and Joan Jett. You either know them from listening to them a lot on the radio or you really did your research. Others like the Beatles and Wham not so much, since they're from around close to where you are.
One final thing regarding a level. For Noisemaker 38 -
Rock, Paper, Scissors, the trigger area of the vine traps seems way off. Instead of being right on top of the vine, it's a little off to the side. Is this intended? I'm not sure if it will affect the level's solution either way.
Finally, a big issue with the pack is that it tends to take quite a while for the level preview to load up. The worst offenders in the Noisemaker ranks are the two artistic levels I just mentioned, Octopus's Garden and Vegas Lights. The latter takes the longest out of all the Noisemaker levels to load up.
Now that I'm on the Amateur rank, hopefully the very exciting stuff is to come. I was definitely very bored with the Noisemaker rank, and them being quite challenging kind of made it a turn-off even more, but then again I am a bit crankier today than I usually am due to finishing the second half and how I'm extremely sleep-deprived. Again, I'm sure the pack definitely gets better with its puzzles. Artistically, obviously many of those are to come, since most of the levels had to get the design right. If that's the case, then I definitely have something to look forward to as I proceed with the pack. I just hope that the pack does keep me engaged as I play more of it later.
Ok pack so far, but again I'm aware that I'm not even into the good stuff yet since I've only played the
very boring Noisemaker rank so far.
Feedback on the First 28 Tutorial-Like Levels of the Amateur RankLet me start off by saying that it was a huge relief to finally start hearing the other music tracks starting in this rank. I got annoyed with the boring ONML music rotation very quickly in the Noisemaker rank. Don't get me wrong, you did a good job of remixing the 6 ONML tracks, but it was very boring hearing the same 6 tunes throughout the 40 levels of the Noisemaker rank. Indeed, I found myself rocking out to some of your original Lemmings music track remixes in the Amateur rank
In particular, I love the music for Amateur 7, as well as the following level, Amateur 8 (Very nice How Much is That Doggie in the Window? remix!
), Amateur 9 (especially the beginning which sounds almost like something from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite, specifically The Flower Waltz), and Amateur 13. Nice job with these!
The rest of the tracks I was either partial to or wasn't a fan of. I would probably love both The Can Can and She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain tracks if they weren't as loud.
After I finished the Amateur rank last night, I headed over to the LWT New Formats topic to read the posts on the Noisemaker and Amateur ranks. Apparently I echoed a lot of Icho's feedback for the Noisemaker rank here for Old Formats, so you're going to see me echoing a lot of Icho's feedback for the Amateur rank as well.
In contrast to the Noisemaker rank, the tutorial style levels in the Amateur rank were more enjoyable and weren't nearly as difficult, and the difficulty isn't all over the place. At least after the first 2 levels of Amateur, which I felt were difficult in their own way, although the former not as much as the latter. For Amateur 1 -
It's a Long Way to the top, it is a bit difficult to see that 4 stackers is sufficient to get over the first wall. Even if it's difficult visually, I guess it's very easy to deduce that stackers must be used for that, based on the skillset, since 2 builders is obviously nowhere near enough to get over the first wall. Then again, it's always difficult to tell how many stackers are needed to get over any wall, especially since most of us are used to using builders to get over walls.
For Amateur 2 -
Timber (It's going down!), the only difficult part is the leftmost entrance. It's not easy to figure out how to delay the lemmings long enough for a worker lemming to mine the tree obstacle before anyone turns back and drowns. The other two entrances are very easy to figure out. Then again, this is also the very first time I have played a level in your Autumn tileset, which means I need to get used to recognizing the objects but most importantly the trap, which blends in very well with the other leaves, although I correctly suspected the bottom one on the left since it really stand out, even if the top trap took me by complete surprise, since I have never played this tileset ever.
After the first two levels, then I say we had a long stretch of fairly easy levels. Amateur 3 -
Walking on sunshine will likely look impossible at first glance for most, but then I looked at the number of lemmings in the level, and with two hatches, that means 5 out of each, hence the 5 swimmers. Also, since you later teach that the water breaks falls with Amateur 12 in the pre-text, I'm wondering if these levels should switch positions. The only problem here is that this would break the already neatly placed levels according to movement of skills for the first three levels (up, down, and horizontal), so unless your intention is for the player to figure out that water always breaks falls, I would say this can be a huge step up in difficulty for the less experienced players. Luckily, if the player manages to figure that out, the rest is easy.
Amateur 8 -
Who let the dogs out? is quite a difficult level and I would even say is a huge step up in difficulty compared to the previous levels of the rank. It's not easy to figure out how to navigate the terrain and around the dog traps with the extremely restricted skillset. Truthfully, the missing disarmer was the very first thing I noticed in the level, so naturally I scanned the level to find the disarmer pickup. Surprisingly, I couldn't spot it myself, so at first I thought you were trolling and made an error for the level. I did suspect that it was the mound next to the last dog before the exit, but I wasn't certain. It should be obvious to you that I resisted turning on CPM, and I played the entire level without the aid of it. Indeed, the "boing" pickup sound took me a bit by surprise after I passed the mound I suspected where the pickup was. I then rewinded a bit and took another quick look, and I finally did see the disarmer icon in the mound. Quite well-hidden, if I do say so myself.
As for the level, I got to say that it definitely shouldn't be a surprise that indeed there are hidden traps in the dogs, particularly since the pre-text somewhat hints at it. It's also as you say, your animals are hungry for lemmings. I got to say, though, that you did a great job of depicting dog poop at the barrel, and when the trap went off, my reaction was, "Eww, the dog pooped on the lemming and killed it!" There is also some kind of trap that sucks lemmings upwards in the first and last dogs that I encountered in my solution when you get to its mouth. I got to ask, what kind of trap is it that's sucking the lemmings upwards? Especially since the lemming immediately gets sucked up once it steps on the trigger area. Obviously, it's to give the impression that the dog ate the lemming, so I thought that was fun to see. Above all, great looking level!
I say Amateur 13 -
Ayo Technology is a pretty difficult radiation level (Old Formats version). Added:
This is the very first level in the pack that needed to be changed because of how the radiation object doesn't exist in New Formats, hence all the bomber pickups.It's definitely not easy to work out how to manuever the lemmings with the radiation coundown to get them to explode in the places that will get the crowds from either side up to the exit. The save requirement might seem very lenient, but even with the cloners it's pretty tight. Nice looking level though, with the depiction of the atom and referencing lemmings being blown into atoms with the radiation.
Amateur 15 -
Ring, ring! can also be difficult, but I say more tricky than difficult. The solution I came up with building into terrain to turn around at the end to bash the OWWs seems to be the more difficult alternative. I read your spoiler list on what you intended on this level after I had saved the rank, and indeed having looked at the level again, I say destructive skills going against the OWW is the much easier option here. Once again, nice looking level depicting a telephone with the number keys.
Amateur 16 -
Slide it in can also be difficult as well, especially with figuring out how to get the floaters home since they take a little longer to open up their parachute compared to gliders. I might had overcomplicated the solution tremendously though. Indeed, I just tried it again and saw that there are much easier ways to solve it than the way I did. This was what gave me a lot of problems on Hasty 6 of Lemmicks, and I mentioned that was the hardest level of the rank.
I think Amateur 17 -
Float is also another difficult one, especially with figuring out how to get past the flower trap and how to bridge the gap before anyone else arrives and falls into the bottomless pit. I didn't use the stoner, so I wonder what the purpose of it is. Probably means I also backrouted the level, but I'm not sure.
Amateur 18 -
Tears in Heaven is yet another difficult level and I would also say is a huge step up in difficulty to the previous difficult ones I just mentioned. The right crowd is easy, but the left crowd is quite difficult. It took me quite a while to figure out how to get all of the left crowd to the miner tunnel on the right side.
Amateur 23 -
Fields of gold is a difficult level in figuring out how to navigate the honeycomb and getting the right crowd up to where the left crowd can get up. My solution is probably quite fiddly and there are probably much easier ways.
Amateur 24 -
Wonderwall Not necessarily difficult, just tricky, in regards to getting the basher/blocker trick to work at the very beginning, but I was already aware of this trick and so this level wasn't as hard. Definitely for less experienced players it will be a very hard level. The one thing I didn't know about was
a digger turning around when dug directly on top of a one-way field, but I guess this makes sense since this is akin to digging and releasing a blocker, who has the ability to turn a digger in the other direction when you block in the digger pit.
Amateur 26 -
Like ice in the sunshine Nice slowfreeze (Old Formats version) puzzle that gave me a good struggle for about 10 minutes, so it can be difficult and is somewhat a big step up in difficulty, even with the very restricted skillset. Definitely getting the crowd down safely is hard, and also figuring out how to stop them from walking into the trap.
Added:
Another level that changed due to slowfreeze not being present in New Formats, thus the reason why there are stoner pickups, but it's pretty much the same since they're at the same location where the former object is located in Old Formats.Finally, Amateur 28 -
Zombie is quite a difficult level to finish off the tutorial-like puzzles. Once again, compression for the win here and releasing the crowd at the right time to avoid infection. Before that, I kept trying to actually get rid of the zombie by making him drown, but I wasn't able to.
The other ones I didn't mention in the first 28 levels weren't as difficult and were enjoyable and more to my liking. In particular, I absolutely loved Amateur 5 -
Sugar Baby Lem (easy level and nice looking level), Amateur 6 -
Cliffs of Dover (nice puzzle and how there's two solutions, my solution spares all the climbers), Amateur 7 -
Join me in death (I still enjoyed this one despite the stoner staircase and repeated bombing/stoning, at least it wasn't to the extreme and done to death like it was in Paralems), Amateur 9 -
Greensleeves (nice, easy puzzle!), and Amateur 11 -
Whole lotta Lems (very nice puzzle, although I initially tried to get all lemmings through the pillar for a few minutes until I realized I was going about it the wrong way and that the several climbers provided had a purpose, and the miner placement and timing can be a bit difficult).
My favorite level of the rank in the first batch of 28 levels was Amateur 19 -
Holding out for a hero. Decent looking level and also a very nice, easy puzzle on top of it!
I also really loved Amateur 25 -
Radioactive. Very nice and easy radiation (Old Formats) puzzle!
Added:
Again, due to being a level featuring radiation in Old Formats, there is a bomber pickup in the New Formats version of the level instead.Lastly, for Amateur 24 -
Firework,
I immediately thought of the nuke being required just based on the level title, especially since it does indeed look like fireworks from all the lemmings being applied a bomber skill with the nuke. This is one of the few levels that I have played where the nuke being required for the solution didn't escape me. For some reason, that one level in Lemmicks where the nuke is needed completely went over my head. I think this is the third level that has Katy Perry as an artist, so you're apparently a fan of her, as am I.
Ok, that took longer and I wrote a lot more than I thought I would, but at least the boring tutorial-like levels are done and over with. Now finally onto the open-ended puzzles and the more exciting stuff. The remaining feedback will be on the final 12 levels of the Amateur rank, starting with Amateur 29.
Feedback on the Last 12 Levels of the Amateur Rank, Starting with Amateur 29The rest of the rank lived up to my expectations of very exciting and well-done puzzles, and so luckily you managed to get my engagement level back up, and so I will definitely be playing out the rest of the pack with joy, unless I start getting annoyed with future puzzles that have stumped me, but I highly doubt it, since so far it's been looking really good
It's going to take a while, since I still have 240 levels to go, but I'll get through the whole pack eventually. In the final set of 12 levels of the rank, the hardest level for me was certainly Amateur 37. I still loved the level and solution, though!
Amateur 29 -
Seven Nation Army Very easy level to start off the open-ended puzzles of the rank after the previous 28 tutorial-like levels. Somewhat nice looking level too despite the minimal design in the middle.
Amateur 30 -
Georgia on my Mind Already difficult with the second puzzle level, but still not overly hard and quite a nice level. Definitely a nice departure from the standard block the crowd in and have a worker lemming forge the path by temporarily delaying/containing the crowd with a miner pit in both directions and bashing to the right before the lemmings get trapped in the windows. I didn't realize those flashing windows is just scenery. Also the flag pole being scenery and not solid. I'm not sure if it's the exact same in New Formats, but I definitely wished something was done to make the flag pole more clearly scenery and not solid. Great looking level too!
Amateur 31 -
The Great Indifference The 0 save requirement was what immediately caught my eye. Is that intentional? Upon loading the level I immediately exited. It's still a very easy level, so I might just go back and actually do the level for real later on. A save requirement of 1 was added in for the New Formats, but for everyone who might not be aware, Strato did not add that when he converted the pack, as the 0 save requirement for Old Formats was intentional on his part, and hence he wanted it to be the same on New Formats, but alas a forum user changed it so that you must actually play the level and get it solved, i.e, at least one lemming must reach the exit.
Amateur 32 -
Ich und mein Holz Nice level with a great solution!
You, Simon, Icho, Nepster, or eric can translate the level title for me.
Amateur 33 -
Eagle Somewhat difficult, but still easy. Also a very nice looking level!
Amateur 34 -
Levels Easy 10-of-everything level despite the lose 1 save requirement, although can't be wasteful with your skills, especially the builders. I like how you included a level from every rank of the original Lemmings and put them together to make this level: Fun 1, Tricky 1, Taxing 29, and Mayhem 12. It's just like traveling in time in the game here.
Amateur 35 -
Black Polished Chrome This one was quite difficult for me, actually. I struggled with this for a good half hour, but finally managed to solve it. Definitely not easy to find an efficient path through all the obstacles with the extremely restricted skillset to reach the hidden (not hidden at all but in the context of the original Lemmings game it definitely would be hidden) exit inside the wall. For the exit, I kept not having a basher to access it.
In the end, two bombers and a platformer leftover.Amateur 36 -
Walk this way Nice puzzle involving a temporary stacker to prevent the glider from exiting and then later circling around to bomb the top of it from the right side! Probably my favorite among the final 12 levels of the rank
The only difficult thing is platforming so that only the glider makes it across so that it can circle back while the rest of the crowd can still fall down and get to the exit coming from the left.
Amateur 37 -
Shipping to Boston By far the hardest level of the rank but I still love the solution and level. Very nice puzzle with a bunch of tricks required!
Struggled for a good 40 minutes or so. The key here is realizing that it's possible to give the first lemming enough time to seal up the gap and losing only one lemming in the process by making the second lemming a bomber to contain the crowd. The level is still no cakewalk after that. Other tricks needed are bombing the second wall as the climber either starts hoisting or falls one pixel from the other direction, temporary 1 bridge for the next gap after that, getting up to the steel platform with a combination of a builder and a stack interrupted with a walker, and finally building to bridge the chain gap to turn around and circle back to the crowd to release them. The final builder can be used to get up on the blue square blocks platform. All of these required things make it a very difficult level.
Amateur 38 -
The Shocker Nothing special here and way too easy. Nice breather after the previous brutally difficult level.
Amateur 39 -
Japan Nice looking level that is somewhat difficult but still a really nice puzzle! I like how the radiation must be used to bomb the gray pillars but then you also have to figure out how to avoid the radiation traps later afterwards. A couple of skills leftover, but I'm guessing these are fine.
Amateur 40 -
God gave Rock n' Roll to you Very nice level to finish off the rank. Somewhat difficult and definitely not trivial despite the 5-of-everything skillset of what you're given. At first, I was wondering where the exit was in the level. I spent a couple of minutes digging through the terrain, as well as the guitar picks at the top. I then experimented and tried going to the very last guitar and to my surprise the worker exited. To be fair, this is the very first level in the music tileset that I have ever played, and so I was completely unaware that the vertical standing black guitar is the exit. It should also be clear that I didn't use CPM at all. I simply wanted the challenge of finding the exit without the aid of it
Also, for a while I tried to use the upper path of going on the piano keys for probably about a good 15-20 minutes before I then tried the lower route. I did try the lower route before spending time on the upper path, but I quickly abandoned it when I saw that you need at least two platformers to make it across the gap. Once I did come back to the bottom route, I quickly realized that's where the stacker can provide the few pixels of width to allow lemmings across the gap without using up another platformer, since three platformers are needed to get to the exit.
Most importantly, very nice looking level!:thumbsup:
For the Amateur rank, I recognized 10 of the songs by title
Overall, the Amateur rank was a huge improvement compared to the Noisemaker rank.
It was still somewhat boring, but nowhere near as much, and the difficulty doesn't jump all over the place like it did in the Noisemaker rank. The Amateur rank definitely lived up to its promise of superb looking levels and well-made puzzles after the first 28 tutorial-like style levels. Indeed, I praised almost all of the final 12 open-ended puzzle levels of the rank, so that's certainly saying something. So, it's thanks to those levels (and some of the ones in the first 28 to an extent) that managed to get me engaged and hyped up about the pack again.
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the rest of the pack and finishing up the whole thing! I think from here on out, I'm going to post with my replays and feedback when I get to the halfway point, ie, after 20 levels. As I said before, 40 levels is just way too much to write feedback on all at once. 20 levels at a time should be much more manageable in terms of how much time I waste writing my feedback. Indeed, that's exactly what I did with United, although I sent replays to Icho whenever I got truly stumped, not necessarily at the halfway point, although I did that too!
Onward to the Professional rank!
Well, I'm halfway through the Professional rank, so I'm back again already with more replays and feedback. Here are my replays up through Professional 20, as well as feedback for Professional 1 through Professional 20. Well, I must say that I continue to be impressed by the high artistic quality of your levels and puzzles that were definitely promised during my playthrough of the Professional rank so far, after finally getting past the boring stuff from the Noisemaker rank and the little over the first half of the Amateur rank
I'm probably now going a little way too fast for your liking, especially since I have seem to pick up significant speed, so perhaps I should slow down my playing of LWT a bit so as not to torture you with so much work fixing up levels for LWT as well in addition to LOA.
Professional rank finished. Attached are my replays up through Professional 40, as well as my feedback for Professional 21 through Professional 40. The puzzles continue to be excellent, and more high praise incoming!
Professional 1 -
I wanna rock! Nice, challenging level to start off the rank! I like how you must dig low enough on the stoner steps in order to be able to fully build the bridges, although the stoner placements can be a bit precise. Skillset is quite tight, and the solution ends up using everything, so you cannot waste anything at all! Also, you must choose correctly for the gap at the beginning, or you're not going to have enough to solve the level.
Professional 2 -
Carry on wayward Lem Nice and easy breather level after the previous challenging level. Somewhat a huge builder fest, although builders can be quite tight.
Professional 3 -
Sex bomb Not a difficult level, since it was quite obvious to me what needs to be done, just very difficult to execute. I can only imagine how much harder this level would be with timed bombers, so I think this is one of the few to be thankful of untimed bombers. Not to mention that timed bombers won't even work for this level anyway, since the lemmings are too close to the edge of the wall where they start and hence won't be able to make a safe pit in the wall for lemmings to all down safely.
Professional 4 -
Fencing Queen Another nice easy level with a great solution
Professional 5 -
Vienna Can be challenging due to the extremely limited destructive skills, but even the builders are somewhat in short supply so you need to be efficient with their use as well. It's still an easy level, though.
Professional 6 -
Walk like an Egyptian Probably my second favorite level of the rank in the first half of the rank
Can be tricky to figure out how to get the lemmings down to the lowest floor before the exit, but it's still an easy level with a really awesome solution
Professional 7 -
Holy Diver Way too easy and nothing too special here
Professional 8 -
Blocking all over the world Ah, there's the level from the LOL rank of Pit Lems all fixed up for LWT. It's definitely harder now, especially since you have prevented me from solving it the same way I did the Pit Lems version. Still, the solution is nice when you can piece it together.
Professional 9 -
Dig in a box Nice short and somewhat challenging level. They key here is making sure only one lemming is on the other side of the exit while the rest are on the other side. The RR plays a really important role here in getting all the crowd out in time before the digger finishes and causes some lemmings to splat. The first digger near the exit and builder are somewhat precise.
Professional 10 -
Buildy Jean The tricks from Stop and stair return here, builder wall and building to seal off the basher tunnel so only one worker lemming goes ahead and forges the path for the crowd. Nice level!
Professional 11 -
Making your mine up Nice level primarily involving miners. You probably intended the miner cancelling trick, but that trick is not required to solve this level, as I solved it without it.
Professional 12 -
Block around the clock Too easy. I even got the talisman too even though I have not taken a look at the list beforehand. It's so not a gold talisman, it's way too easy for one.
Professional 13 -
Tulpen aus Amsterdam I really like this level too, both the artistic quality and the solution
The builder/platformer for both gaps are a bit precise, but luckily you only have to do the combo twice. Here, the flag pole was solid, so something really needs to be done about this in being able to differentiate whether it's solid or not. Although, if I'm not mistaken, only the white ones are non-solid, while any other color pole is?
Professional 14 -
Waka-waka Nice 1-of-everything level involving mining into steel to turn the climber around since you have to save everyone here. Non-solid white flag pole, so it seems my guess is correct so far?
Professional 15 -
Auld Lem Syne Too easy. Nice looking level, though
Professional 16 -
Pompeii You did pretty good depicting the resulting eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii that resulted from it all those years ago. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of the song by Bastille though. I found it annoying back when it played on the radio a lot. As for the level, pretty easy, with how to get into the exit that's buried by the lava being the only challenging thing of the level. The main critique I have is that the platformer/builder bricks are completely invisible against the purple background.
Professional 17 -
Surfin' bird Whoa, that's a cool looking exit. Another easy level.
Professional 18 -
Sur le pont d'Avignon If I'm not mistaken, the title is French for South of the Avignon port? I don't really know French, I took Spanish all 4 years of high school. Anyway, another really easy level, as well as a very nice looking level, especially with the lemmings swimming in the lake.
Professional 19 -
Atte katte nuva Wow, I really like this level!
My favorite level of the rank so far. Not only does it look really cool with the snow falling in the background, I really love the solution! Very easy, and I like the releasing the blocker with the fencer trick from the other side which I recently learned in a United level in the Bonus rank.
Professional 20 -
Rome Nice looking level that includes Italy's flag. Easy level. My solution seems to be a backroute? Not sure if you intended the use of the teleporter or if it's a complete red herring.
Professional 21 -
The lion sleeps tonight Awimbaway awimbaway awimbaway awimbaway (I'm sure that's not correct at all, just what it sounds like to me, but the following is right) "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight." Haha I couldn't resist. Nice short and somewhat easy level, with the very high RR adding a bit to the challenge. I guess the cat trap is the closest that we can get to an actual lion in the game, although I think the tiger is closer to a cat than a lion is. I do have a bomber leftover, but I lost one to a cat trap, which is fine since we're allowed 2 losses anyway.
Professional 22 -
Samba de Janeiro O.o nice level and solution!
Very nice design. The only tricky part is the right edge of the cross, where a combination of two platformers + a builder is used, and only that must be used. Otherwise, you're not going to have enough for the water gap, and you won't have anything to turn the swimmer around.
Professional 23 -
Streets of London Another nice looking level using the city tileset. And of course the most appropriate "London Bridge is Falling Down" tune to boot, since it's all about London. Nice Big Ben design there. Not a very hard level, but it is a somewhat tricky 3-of-everything level, especially upon first glance it might not seem to be enough. Being economical and efficient is the name of the game for this level. If you are, you can still end up with a lot of skills leftover like I did here.
Professional 24 -
Malle ist nur einmal im Jahr Very nice level and solution here too!
Somewhat easy despite the high RR. This level definitely seems like something Icho would make, only maybe not quite this very short, but how a crowd will be heading into danger, that part reminds me of his style of level making. Maybe it'll be easy for me to guess which levels you tried imitating his style in the Groupie rank. I have a glider and swimmer leftover.
Professional 25 -
A Spacelem came travelling Too easy. Nice looking lemming garden gnomes, two of which are blockers and one which seems to be playing dead.
Professional 26 -
Budapest This one was quite difficult, actually. The skillset is extremely tight, and all of them are used in my solution. Especially for the right half, the skill placements all seemed very precise. It's also difficult to get the bomber hole in the middle column just right so that the lemmings can travel to the exit, as well as still be surmountable.
Professional 27 -
Moskau, Moskau Very nice decorative level!
This one was also difficult, although maybe not as difficult as the previous one. I think only the cloning the miner part is very precise, as well as the builder for the very last gap before the exit.
Professional 28 -
The Irish Rover Whoa, what a cool looking ship from a distance, and you made the lower decks visible where the lemmings start. Not difficult, but it is very tricky to figure out the best way to navigate through the many obstacles, so the 5-of-everything skillset is quite tight. What did you do so that none of the many sideway barrels don't spawn lemmings? I initially thought they were all going to have lemmings get released, truthfully. Also, not sure why the lemmings are preassigned swimmers, especially since they can't be saved once they do fall in the water.
Professional 29 -
Rock you like a hurricane Not difficult as well, just tricky in figuring out how to be efficient with your platformers/builders, and I ended up using all of both! This time, the exit has been rotated sideways, although I believe you mentioned that they're all upright in New Formats?
Professional 30 -
Smells like Lem spirit Excellent puzzle! The only difficult part is figuring out how to mine the bottom crowd up, as well as how to bash the upper part of the OWW to get to the exit.
Professional 31 -
Bay of Pigs Nothing too special about this zombie level, especially since my solution is probably not intended, as I don't use a glider to get over there to platform to the crowd. Instead, I simply platformed across in the starting area, since it seems that anyone on top of the stack can't get infected by the zombies even when they're climbers but the overhang prevents them from climbing more than 1 pixel.
Professional 32 -
Bratislava Lover Very nice looking level and great puzzle! This level does a very good job of teaching the player that instead of using 3 builders to get up to the exit, which would be what most players would do and is perfectly fine if there were more builders, but since we are limited and won't have enough left for the other gaps, one must bash and interrupt it midstroke with a walker so that you can get up to the exit. Excellent!
Professional 33 -
Aquarius Another great looking level, as well as a very nice puzzle. It is somewhat tricky, but not terribly difficult to figure out at all. It's obviously clear that only the far left exit is accessible once all buttons have been pushed. The platformers may seem plentiful, but you must be efficient in their use.
Professional 34 -
Bang-a-boomerang Another good looking level and a great puzzle on top of it. It is somewhat tricky as well to figure out, but it's not too terribly difficult either. The most difficult part is timing the release of the second climber to block and turn the miner. I like how the miner needs to circle back and release the crowd with a digger and a bomber. It does result in a very long wait, especially since the builders haven't been used yet and the crowd will have to walk all that way, but thank goodness for the time skip (just spam spacebar).
Professional 35 -
Iron Maidan Not sure if that's the intended spelling or if that's the correct song title, but I know it as "maiden." Ok looking level, but the puzzle is really great! Nice use of digger cancelling, as well as platforming to the columns instead of platforming near the top surface of the exit area and having to fence repeatedly until you can get high enough to get to the exit. Luckily, the crowd has a long way before reaching the worker lemming in progress.
Professional 36 -
Down in Mexico Really nice looking level and also a great puzzle too! A bit tricky to figure out, especially since I initially tried digging and then stopping it with a bomber once it was close enough to the level of the platformer. After a few tries, it was then clear that this wouldn't work out at all since a climber in the pit needs to be released before the bomber explodes but also the worker and climber would be too close to each other that the first one wouldn't have enough time to make the miner tunnel deep enough to turn the other one around to mine down to the crowd. The key here instead is making a bomber hole at the edge of the starting area so that the platformers can close the gap and no one will fall off the bottom.
Professional 37 -
Sun of Jamaica Very nice looking level and a very nice solution that comes together quite nicely!
Easy level, with the only tricky thing being how to isolate a worker lemming, as well as realizing that you must bash high enough on the second palm tree on the ground in order to be able to access the exit.
Professional 38 -
Ovo je Balkan Somewhat hard level with a difficult to spot solution. Still, I love the solution! Good looking level too. I think that digging and bashing under all the mines is a really good red herring. Of course, if you make the connection with the fact that there's 5 mines and that you can lose up to 5 lemmings here, then it should be clear that it's ok to lose a lemming to each one if you remember they're 1-time traps only.
Professional 39 -
Taj-a, Taj-a, Taj-a, Taj Me Have you seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show? I saw it sometime ago at a local movie theater, where the actors walk around the stage and engage with the audience. Way too easy, and nice attempt at recreating the Taj Maha of India.
Professional 40 -
Queen of Chinatown Good looking level, but most importantly easy and very nice puzzle to finish off the rank!
I really love the solution here. A lot easier than the Amateur rank finisher.
Added:
The level needed some terrain/steel at the top in order to make the builder turn around, as the ceiling is deadly in New Formats, while in Old Formats that wasn't needed because the ceiling is solid. Even then, the puzzle/solution is the same
Halfway through the Diva rank, so time for more replays and feedback. Replays up to Diva 20. Wow, excellent levels as usual, but the Diva levels are considerably more difficult than the ones in the previous Professional rank. The hardest one by far before the halfway point of the Diva rank was definitely Diva 19. That one stumped me real good for about an hour.
Diva rank completed and thus halfway (160/320 levels solved) through with the pack already. Here are my replays up through Diva 40 and feedback. In contrast to the first half, I felt the second half of the Diva rank was overall much easier.
Diva 1 -
Eternal flame Easy and excellent level to start off the rank
Diva 2 -
Munich First splat entrance level of the pack, I believe? Pretty easy as well. Truthfully, I thought those black square blocks were steel, but luckily they aren't.
Diva 3 -
Hot stuff Somewhat difficult in that figuring out the best way through the obstacles and not running out of builders/platformers isn't easy at all. Still, nice level.
Diva 4 -
Lempire State of Mind Obviously a reference to the Empire State Building in New York. I visited it back in 2003 when I went on a Washington D.C trip with my middle school. I think the highest floor we went to that time was the 101st floor out of 116. Artistically, very nicely designed level! This one was another difficult one as well, especially since figuring out how to get up this very tall building is hard. Timing the first builder to have a blocker turn it is a bit difficult. Still, great level.
Diva 5 -
All the single Lemmings Excellent and easy level compared to the last two. I absolutely love the solution here!
Diva 6 -
Diggas in Paris There's the level from Paralems. I used a different solution in that I simply built over the Eiffel Tower. So much for digging through the tower, which is the solution I used in Paralems.
Diva 7 -
Born this way Not a difficult level per se, but rather difficult to execute. Concept-wise, it's clear what needs to happen: Swimmers use the bottom left exit, climbers use the top exit, and floater/gliders use the bottom right exit. Nice level, though.
Diva 8 -
Dragonstea din tei Ahaha, I remember when I first found out about this song from my sister back when I was either in high school or in the early years of college. "Numa numa yea, numa numa numa yea" (not sure about the word that's different from the "numas"). Good level, although I might had backrouted this level, since I don't use the blocker or collect one of the basher pickups.
Diva 9 -
I won't hold you back Excellent level and solution!
I initially tried the bottom left path, but realized it won't work after a few minutes, so that's a pretty good red herring.
Diva 10 -
Umbrella Another excellent level with a great solution!
I'm not sure if it's possible to solve without raising the RR like I did at the very beginning.
Diva 11 -
Don't cry for me, Argentina Easy level. Nothing too special here. Ok looking level.
Diva 12 -
Walking in Lemphis Another level from Paralems I believe? I used pretty much the exact same solution here as I did for the Paralems version.
Diva 13 -
Brick house Somewhat easy. Nothing too special here either other than it's aptly named.
Diva 14 -
Foot of the mountain Nice somewhat easy level. Not very difficult, but at the same time the soluton isn't trivial either. I like how you need to send three lemmings to forge the path.
Diva 15 -
If you're going to San Francisco Always a very nice city to visit, although certainly not the place I would permanently settle in since it's too cold for my liking. I'm also very spoiled by the warm, sunny weather in SoCal, having lived in the southern region of California my entire life. This one was difficult, although certainly the hardest part is figuring out the best way to get up and onto the outer parts of the Golden Gate Bridge. Probably would had been better with the pillar tileset since it's pretty close to the "golden" color.
Diva 16 -
Puff, the Magic Dragon I really liked this one!
Very nice solution, especially with the bombing the wall with a glider and having a glider get into the hole to make a splatform for the crowd. Also, nice hidden zapper trap from the bubble tileset in the dragon itself, which definitely took me by complete surprise. Again, I haven't been playing these levels with CPM activated at all. Really, I'm just taking the hidden elements of surprise as they come. At first, I thought the basher skill shadow being cut short was due to no more terrain to bash through when in actuality it was due to the zapper trap.
Diva 17 -
Believe in life after Lemmings "Do you believe in life after love? I can feel something inside me say, I really don't think you're strong enough, no." Couldn't resist here either haha. I also really liked this level!
Nice use of two tricks here, sealing a basher tunnel and sending a climber while a basher tunnel is in progress in order to bash the OWW.
Diva 18 -
Royals This should be a very bad backroute, considering I don't use the two pickup skills at all.
Diva 19 -
Barcelona I don't remember if Barcelona was one of the cities of Spain that I visited when I went on my high school's Europe trip back in 2007. I think we just stayed around the Madrid area. As I already mentioned, this level stumped me real good for an hour, and this is by far the hardest level of the Diva rank so far. There might be some in the second half, but that remains to be seen.
I ultimately brute forced it and stopped a digger from the left entrance with a miner from the second entrance from the left and was able to lose two lemmings, one of which a bomber was used, and so I have a bomber leftover.Added: This was the only level of the pack that needed more than one video in the LP to get solved. Here, I was a dummy and didn't think to start mining instead of climb and bomb the wall on the far left. Solution I found for New Formats is likely different from the solution I described in the paragraph above, from what it sounds like.
Diva 20 -
Only time Much easier than the previous level. Nice use of preplaced radiation zombies to free the top entrances.
Added: Ah, I remembered correctly the radiation and zombies being on Old Formats, but overall it seems the solution and concept is very different on the New Formats version. It feels somewhat easier than the Old Formats version.
Diva 21 -
Let it go Excellent level! I really liked this one and the solution
I did have some trouble, but that's only because I kept placing the platformers in the wrong places. The animating falling snow is great too. Elsa's made an eternal winter in the level.
Diva 22 -
Wrecking ball Nice and easy level as well. Not sure what the stoner is for. It's very easy to save everyone.
Diva 23 -
YerushaLem shel zahav Ok level, although I probably made it harder than I needed to. In my solution, there is a tiny piece of land that the glider lands on in the digger pit so that it's able to glide into the exit. Without it, it will die to the bottomless pit.
Diva 24 -
Rolling in the deep Ok, this was pretty frustrating, not because of the hidden traps (already know that from the first version played earlier in the pack) but how to get past all the traps while only losing 1 lemming. Probably the hardest level in the second half of the rank. I initially tried compression, but I would always end up losing 1 too many, and so I ended up using a different solution which involves fiddling with the RR so that I could bomb the second lemming on the stack early enough so that the stacker lemming can progress further without being hindered by the stack. The rest of it was avoiding the triggers by going underneath or building over them before the rest of the crowd can catch up. According to Arty's LP, he was able to get compression to work. Turns out that I had the stacker in the wrong place. Nevertheless, both versions of the octopus level are quite difficult.
Diva 25 -
Touch my body My solution seems a bit fiddly and I might had backrouted it? Lots of skills leftover. It's practically the same as Arty's, except I take advantage of the fact that you can stone the blocker and bash the terrain it makes.
Diva 26 -
Simply the best I'm not sure what the point of this level is
Way too easy.
Diva 27 -
It must have been Lems Way too easy as well. Nice level, though!
Diva 28 -
Call me Yet another really easy level. Not sure what blocker pickup is for. I didn't even use it!
Diva 29 -
Cotton-Eye Joe Somewhat easy. The only thing I'm quite surprised by here is how the cloned glider was able to not get stuck in the updraft if assigned at the right time.
Diva 30 -
Something in the water I've heard this reference before, but I forget what it's referring to. A fish or shark maybe? Of course, I'm sure it refers to what the pickup skills resembles. Anyway, too easy.
Diva 31 -
Burn Somewhat difficult in that you can't waste any of your platformers. Also have to cancel a miner with another. Being able to assign a platformer to a miner will probably escape many players, although I've known this fact for quite a while, and hence the level wasn't as hard.
Diva 32 -
Weisse Rosen aus Athen More tricky than difficult in that it's not easy to figure out how to get both crowds up to the exit. The right entrance is easy, the left isn't that much harder, but it will need help from the right entrance.
Diva 33 -
Titanium Nice easy level! Definitely deviates in that normally one bashes/mines OWWs, but here it is necessary to build over the OWW at the top, as you don't have enough bashers for all the OWWs.
Diva 34 -
Out of L.A Ok level in that it's a bit tricky to figure out. Builders may be plentiful, but don't be fooled, as pretty much almost or all of them will be used. Here, I had 1 leftover. I don't suppose the level isn't any specific location in LA but rather just how there's a lot of skyscrapers? I attended college in LA for 4 years.
Diva 35 -
Total eclipse of the builders Nice repeat level that's definitely different from the original. Not that much harder, it's still easy, and I like the solution.
Diva 36 -
Horehronie Way too easy.
Diva 37 -
Ebony and ivory "Live together in perfect harmony." Great song. Once again, builders may seem plentiful, but all of them were used in my solution. Skillset is also quite tight, but overall it's not a difficult level, just tricky to figure out the best route to take.
Diva 38 -
Set fire to the rain O.o I like the falling rain in the level, and it definitely makes the level aptly named. Very nice puzzle! I absolutely loved the solution here. The left entrance can be quite tricky to figure out, but I didn't find it that bad. Plus the skillset lends itself extremely well so that one can quickly deduce what needs to be used to temporarily contain them while one goes on ahead.
Diva 39 -
My Lems will go on Very nice level, both the design and puzzle!
1-of-everything to boot too. Nice recreation of the Titanic and the infamous iceberg that sank her. Clearly the title is a nod to the movie Titanic, which features the title track "My heart will go on." I love Celine Dion. Great and powerful voice. I surprisingly haven't seen the movie! As for the level, the only difficult part is with the leftmost hatch in how to isolate a worker lemming while ensuring no one else slips past the stack. This was probably my favorite level of the entire rank.
Diva 40 -
So Wat? (I'm still a rockstar) Somewhat easy to finish off the rank, although can be a bit tricky to figure out. It's a nice looking level, though.
Needless to say, the difficulty has ramped up considerably from the Professional rank. The levels started getting really difficult as I got closer to the halfway point, and there were certainly some tough ones in the first 10 as well, although not as much. Well, let's see how the second half of the Diva rank goes.
Onto the Rockstar rank!
