Poll

Help Me Decide the Next Two Level Packs to LP. Whose Packs Shall I Give Some Loving To First?

Lemmings in Weirdyland (2023 edition) by weirdybeardy
2 (22.2%)
Quest from Kieran by kieranmillar
3 (33.3%)
Mikes Lemmings Version 2 (Rigel rank only) by Turrican
2 (22.2%)
Unusual Lemmings by Duuddu
1 (11.1%)
Festival Millas 2020 by Gigalem
1 (11.1%)

Total Members Voted: 5

Author Topic: kaywhyn's List of Completed LPs of Lemmings Packs and Upcoming Packs to LP  (Read 31516 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline kaywhyn

  • Global Moderator
  • Posts: 1846
    • View Profile
I have added the LP of Chip's Challenge to the OP, as that is another one that I have completed :) Chip's Challenge is a puzzle game I remember playing growing up. I'm sure I knew about the game from how in early Windows OSes Microsoft shipped the game with it as part of their "entertainment packs." I don't think I would had known about the game otherwise. It was released in 1989, so a few years before Lemmings.

As you might had guessed, I didn't complete the game as a kid, as I ended up playing several levels before I gave up/lost interest. I think it was level 31 - Knots where I stopped. At least in my memory, I don't think I ever completed anything beyond that at the time. Or if I did, then I'm nearly certain it was that I didn't play much further after that level. This particular level requires you to collect close to 120 chips but in just 29 seconds. I remember being very confused when I got the message that I ran out of time, and then when I restarted the level and saw the very strict time limit, that made me gulped. Certainly a level like this was one I couldn't comprehend as a kid. So, I didn't come back to the game for years. As it would turn out and I later found out, the game is quite long (149 levels), some of which are also very difficult on top of being really long themselves.

Sometime in high school, either during my sophomore or junior year, I remembered this game. Now that my house has had Wifi for around a year, I searched for the game and downloaded it. It was a long journey, but after nearly a month (I think?) I eventually completed all of the game save for one level, Block Buster II. All other levels I completed, but after I found out there's an easy way to do the upper section of the level without all the dodging madness, I finished this one too.

The game was originally made for the Atari Lynx, and the game was later ported to MS, which is what you see in the LP. I must say, the game still looks great on it even to this day. Unfortunately, the porting came with some negative side effects. I think due to a lot of rushing and hence not enough testing, some bugs carried over. Some of these allow you to complete a level much faster than you can on Lynx. These so-called "busted" levels also make some of them far easier than intended on MS. I completed some of these by taking advantage of the busts, but others I have forgotten that they're busted. In any case, if you want you could solve those levels as they should be played as if you were doing it under Lynx, but it's up to you.

Some time later, the creator, Chuck Somerville, made a sequel to the game, Chip's Challenge 2. It was ready for release, until he found out that an agreement couldn't be negotiated with the other party, who bought the rights to the game and required that he pay an undisclosed huge amount of money. As a result, the game was in limbo for many years, but it finally got released on Steam in 2015. When I heard the news about it, I bought the bundle that included both CC and the editor. Even though I was working at the time, I played and completed both games on Steam. The Steam version is pretty much improved in nearly all aspects, such as the smooth movements and sounds. Not to mention the far better graphics. I was especially excited for CC2, as that meant new levels to play and the game could finally be seen in all its glory. It's definitely tougher than the original CC, but it's also longer, with 200 levels compared to 149. I will leave a more detailed post about CC2 when I get around to LPing the game.

Until CC2 was released, CC fans (there's an online community for that too, and I know a few members here are also a part of it) decided to put together a community pack called Chip's Challenge Level Pack 2. This in a way served as a replacement for CC2 in the meantime until the official game could finally be released. I have completed this, but it's much harder than CC, particularly since the pack uses what is known in the community as "invalid tiles." IMO this is very akin to hidden info in Lemmings, though for CC it's far worse since you don't have the convenience tools like NL does, such as CPM. In other words, anything hidden behind/beneath other stuff you have absolutely no idea as to any of their locations or what they are until you actually try it or if you look in a level editor for the game. Thus, at least to this Lemmings community, a lot of levels in CCLP2 would be considered "unfair" and not so much fun, as countless minutes, even hours, could potentially be wasted in solving them that wouldn't be the case if the stuff wasn't hidden from the player's sight. As a result of this, CCLP2 likely wouldn't even make for a great LP, so I don't think I have plans to. However, I might upload video solutions of them, as I believe I used an emulator called Tile's World to play and solve them. It's pretty much akin to loading up replays for levels in NL in that when you complete a level, a replay of your solution gets solved.

The CCC has produced several more level packs for the game, and if I'm not mistaken it is currently up to CCLP5. I have only completed CCLP2 and most of CCLP3. I'm only missing the last 6 or 7 levels due to being stuck on a level close to the very end. Hence, I have not played CCLP4 and CCLP5. There's also a CCLP1 (not to be confused with CC) which kind of serves as a predecessor to CC, though it's more a prequel to CCLP2 despite being released years after the latter and is supposed to be quite easy. I've played to about close to half of CCLP1, but again I haven't completed this one either.

So why did I LP the Microsoft port of CC, you asked? For one thing, I grew up playing the Microsoft version. Definitely for the nostalgia, even if it isn't as spectacular as, say, the Steam version. Also, I apologize for not playing the game with the music on. Truth be told, when I first played the game back in elementary, I played it without the music. So, in keeping with that, I decided to do the same. Besides, I find the music loud and a bit obnoxious. The Steam version should be better, with the better sounding tunes, which does include Joplin. The same ones should play for CC2, IIRC. Even then, I think most of us would agree the game on MS still looks pretty good for this day and age.

If you like Lemmings, then you'll likely love Chip's Challenge, as the two games share plenty of similarities with one another. They're both puzzle type games, and some themes are recurring in CC, such as Sokoban (block pushing) type puzzles, others are more action based, where you need to dodge the enemies, and some even combine both. Just beware that you don't have the convenience tools that allow you to more easily complete levels, such as a CPM like feature to help you see hidden stuff. At least not until you get to CC2, but for CC there's no such feature. Luckily, there aren't that many levels that have stuff behind blocks in CC, but they are far more common in the custom packs.

It was a long road and journey, but I managed to complete all 149 levels of CC again after having last played it when it came out on Steam back in 2015. It was definitely great for reliving the nostalgia of a wonderful game, even if it's quite difficult and frustrating in many places. I'm definitely happy that I got to know the game when I was growing despite having only completed 1/4 of it at the time and then I happened to remember it when I was in high school. I also remember playing this game at times at a local computer store that used to exist in my hometown, called Comp USA. It was definitely in the early 1990s, as the computer likely wouldn't have the game otherwise.

All rightie, there's a few other games that I would like to get to before I come back to Lemmings content. I should return to the latter in about a week or two. The break is definitely helping a lot. I might do the same as Gigalem in putting up a poll asking what the next two games to LP should be, I might not. I'll have to think about it, though I think for the next one I've already decided what it is and hence there likely won't be too much of a point in doing one.

Can't believe it's March already, and 3 more days until my birthday! ;) 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

Offline kaywhyn

  • Global Moderator
  • Posts: 1846
    • View Profile
All rightie, finally added some more LP links to the OP, especially as some were long overdue. 5 more LPs added: On the Lemmings front, the LP of namida's LPOII and WillLem's Lemminas II, while on the non-Lemmings front: Operation Neptune (PC), Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow (PC CD), and Bio Menace Episode 1: Dr Mangle's Lab (Dos).

For LPO2, this was the very first level pack of 2023 I LPed, and that was near the end of last month. As indicated by the pack's name, this is the sequel to namida's Lemmings Plus Omega pack, as well as currently the third-to-last pack in the Lemmings Plus series (after this there are LPVI, LPA, and LP3D). I took a 3 month hiatus from the game to focus on other stuff, and I can say it was a much needed break. Before this, I came back to cover LDC #27 content, and it was a pretty rude awakening, as I totally didn't expect the levels to be difficult. It would seem that my solving skills have rusted quite a bit during that time. Then when I followed that up with my LP of LPO2, I apparently was beyond sharp (pun intended) until I got to the final Sharp rank, the hardest levels the pack has to offer. This culminates in Sharp 18, possibly namida's hardest level I have played and solved. However, I was eventually able to make it all the way to the very end and solve all of the pack, giving me a great sense of accomplishment, as I have beaten one of namida's hardest packs. In the level pack topic, he classes the difficulty as "extreme," but honestly it didn't really feel over the top hard in any way other than the Sharp levels. To be fair, it likely is due to all the experience I have gained from solving so many level packs before I took on LPO2. I have to suspect if this was one of the earliest NL packs I've played, I likely would had struggled even more than I did during my LP. At the same time, the extreme difficulty is still justified, as this is apparently a pack that even Nepster and Akseli, who I both consider better solvers than me, couldn't solve completely. Though I was able to solve all of the pack, this is a reminder that this does not in any way prove one's intelligence, as namida has stated elsewhere on this site which I completely agree with. Really all it means is that I simply get stuck on different levels than they do.

In any case, I absolutely enjoyed LPO2 from start to finish and is currently very high up on my favorite level packs of all time! :thumbsup: I do understand how some have complained about LPV and LPO2 being too hard and hence namida intentionally dialed back on the difficulty for LPVI, but I absolutely love these challenging level packs and am willing to face the challenges. Being able to solve these really hard levels is what allows one to get better at solving! The sense of accomplishment of doing so can also feel great!

The next Lemmings level pack I took on shortly after finishing LPO2 was WillLem's Lemminas II. Again as indicated by the pack's name, this is the sequel to WillLem's flagship pack Lemminas. This pack is on the much easier side, but I still enjoyed it nevertheless. As I've stated plenty of times, yes, I prefer hard Lemmings levels with specific solutions, but the truth is I enjoy Lemmings levels of all difficulties. So, don't worry about if I think the pack is easy. After all, packs of all difficulties can still be critically acclaimed and well-received. They just need to be done right. In addition, the emphasis was more on the visuals and "accessibility" and therefore WillLem aimed for a lower difficulty with this sequel pack than the higher difficulty of the prequel pack. This can really be seen in the new tilesets featured in the pack that haven't been seen before. They are mostly just recolorings of previously released tilesets while keeping with the Lemminas theme. In regards to the lower difficulty, I think WillLem has been successful in achieving just that with Lemminas II. This is just considering the non-talismans, as the talisman challenge solutions are supposed to offer an even greater challenge/difficulty. Even then, don't be fooled by this, as some levels are still challenging enough even without the talismans!

I've also noted that WillLem's remakes of the official levels tend to be some of his best and hardest levels. There's at least one remake of an official level per rank in this pack. I generally prefer to play new levels instead of remakes from the official Lemmings games, but it's fine with there aren't too many of the latter. I think WillLem stroke the right balance here between new levels and remakes.
 
For the record, currently there are two levels that I haven't been able to solve yet, Black Hole 1 from Nepsterlems (been stuck here for almost 3 years) and the final level of RotL (almost 4 months). So far, they have yet to eclipse the level I've been stuck on the longest, for which the record goes to Gronkling's level Bonus 25 - "Mystery Machine" on the Lemmini version of RotL. That level had me stuck for a little over 3 years all because of a glitch I never even knew about or seen before. To be fair, it is a huge leap to come up with on one's own, and I actually needed some clarification of the glitch needed for the level in the Lemmini glitch topic as it was a bit poorly worded. Yes, I got stuck for a long time there, but eventually I was able to figure it out.


Operation Neptune LP

Then on the non-Lemmings front, another game I LPed was Operation Neptune. This is a game that was made by The Learning Company. It involves navigating the submarine Operation Neptune around collecting capsules and data canisters while avoiding sea creature hazards by shooting ink pellets at them to render them harmless for several seconds or one could simply maneuver carefully around them and avoid getting hit. The focus is on math skills, and I certainly remember when I first played the game either in upper elementary or in middle school that the highest level problems were beyond my comprehension, let alone that I wasn't good at problem solving back then. Interestingly enough, I went on to major in math and studied it for both my bachelor's and master's degrees. As a result, I obviously am more than capable of handling the highest level of math problems in the game now.

There are two different games here, Voyager and Expert. The former is like the easy mode, while the latter is a hard mode. While the objective is the same and you go through the same 5 zones in each game, the sectors are different in the layout in each one. The sea creature hazards in the latter also tend to be faster and smarter, making it harder to avoid them without shooting ink pellets at them. In addition, the storyline is different, as indicated by the data log entries from the data canisters you unlock.

All in all, the game still holds up quite well, though you likely will need to run a virtual machine to get the game running. That's exactly how I recorded the game with OBS.


Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow LP (PC CD)

This is another game I grew up with when I was little. It was pretty much a Christmas present from the wife of a friend of my dad's. There was another game I also was gifted at the time, Toy Story for the PC. I didn't show much interest in the former at first, but once I started watching my brother play it, I took an interest. From what I understand, there's also a Genesis version, which seems to be more well-known than the PC version. The latter is apparently very hard to grab these days. I don't remember how I got it, but I think it was from a download on Youtube. In any case, I grew up with the PC version.

It features Maui Mallard, aka, Donald Duck, going through various levels/stages, killing bad guys along the way. In some levels, he can morph into his ninja alter ego form, Cold Shadow. Most stages end with a difficult boss fight battle. Once you beat the boss, you generally go to the next level/stage. Controls are pretty simple, involving jumping and shooting. There were definitely some levels that were hard for me at the time, but the one level that still remains difficult to play well and complete would be the penultimate stage. It's also quite nightmare fuel inducing.

One interesting thing I didn't realize is that apparently the one I have is different from the one I grew up with in one regard: When the plot exposition is being displayed, the name given is Donald instead of Maui. I think this isn't the North American version of the game despite being in English. I never noticed this until I had finished the LP. It's still the same game, but the connection between Donald Duck and Maui Mallard is lost this way. I think that would explain why the title splash screen is different since Maui is replaced with Donald.

This game I recorded on the Windows 10 host machine. Luckily this runs fine without needing to fire up a VM, though you still need to do some modifications in order for it to run properly. The download came with instructions, so I followed it and had no problem with it not running. Definitely can recommend, especially if you like Donald Duck, though as I've mentioned the PC version is quite difficult to get these days.

This is the first time I finished the game on Hard difficulty, which as I understand affects how much health and lives you start with but is otherwise the same in every regard. All enemies are the same and I think they still take the same number of hits to be killed, meaning the difficulty doesn't increase with there being more or them being more powerful. However, some hazards take a bigger chunk of your health if you get hit on higher difficulties than on lower difficulties.


Bio Menace Episode 1: Dr. Mangle's Lab LP (Dos)

The final game I LPed before I returned to covering Lemmings content is a Dos game called Bio Menace. I've only LPed the first episode for now, but I think I will return to do the next two episodes later on down the line. This was a game that I grew up playing but I didn't complete as a kid. I was able to complete a few levels but I either stopped on the third one or a few levels after it. I've completed the game for the first time many years later, I believe sometime in the 2010s, after I had already graduated from college/university. It features the character Snake Logan who investigates a terrorist attack in the city and completes his mission by foot after his plane crash landed. Like Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow, you go through various levels/stages, firing and killing enemies and collecting items along the way to help you turn off the electrical beam that guards each exit at the end. There are also hostages in some stages which you must rescue before you can proceed to the next. There are some boss battles along the way, but it all ends in a boss battle in the final stage which will further reveal some disturbing plot elements after you defeat him.

It's not an easy game by any means, and the brutal difficulty especially shows if you play on hard, which I did for the very first time when I did my LP. Just like the previous game I LPed from above, the difficulty affects how much bars of health and lives you begin with. There is a further handicap which will really make things tough in that if you collect a medical kit, though it's supposed to restore you to the maximum amount of health allowed in the difficulty you selected, in hard mode it caps you to two, even though you start with four. So, this pretty much means don't collect them unless you already have two health bars or less. Indeed, there were plenty of times which I needed to load up a save during the LP. As a result, this got frustrating when I kept dying so much. I honestly didn't remember the game being this hard, though that's likely because I played on lower difficulties and hence never ran into this problem, especially as there's no handicap with the medical kits.

As this is a Dos game, I recorded this through Dosbox, similar to how I did my LP of Lemmings 3D. Even with the limitations of the hardware at the time, the game still holds up quite well IMO, especially the graphics and the music. I didn't realize that the volume for my Dosbox was still turned down from the time I did L3D, so I was wondering whether the music was naturally softer. I later found out it was from the Dosbox volume still down from last time I did L3D, so I fixed that for future LP videos of the game. Only in the first video where it'll likely be hard to hear the music.

As I understand, there is now a Steam version of the game, so if you fancy that you can buy and obtain that one instead. Of course, I could had played that instead of the Dos version, but I think it was still fine to show the game as it was back then with the limited hardware, similar to how I did the Microsoft version of Chip's Challenge instead of the Steam re-release. Still a game I recommend, especially if you're into the scrolling platformer type game. It still has a decent plot as well.


All rightie, I'll likely cover some more Lemmings content for a few more weeks before taking another break and LPing other non-Lemmings stuff that I would like to get to and show off. I think I will put up a poll for that in a day or so, as I think I will have you, this LF community, help me decide the next two packs to LP. So, be on the lookout for that, and I'll make sure to post to announce when I put it up ;) 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

Offline kaywhyn

  • Global Moderator
  • Posts: 1846
    • View Profile
Re: Help kaywhyn Decide the Next Level Packs to LP
« Reply #92 on: April 20, 2023, 10:56:05 AM »
Hi all,

I know it's so soon for me to post again in this topic, but I'm just posting to announce that I have put up a new poll with a list of level packs. I've decided to do something that I haven't done in a long time, and that is you, yes, this community, help me decide the next two level packs to LP. For a long time, I've decided on the packs to LP on my own. Not this time. It's about time I allow you to provide your input and help me decide once and for all. The question is, which two packs/authors shall I give some attention and love to first? That's where you come in! :thumbsup:

From the options, it should be clear that I'm just sticking to small packs for the next few weeks. Most of these are pretty recent releases, with the only one that hasn't been out this year but from a few years back being Gigalem's FM2020 pack. The plan is to start with the two packs that have more votes than the others and then work my way through the rest on the list before taking another break from Lemmings content to focus on other games that I would like to LP and record as well.

I'll likely let this run for the next several days. I originally thought about starting the LP either tomorrow or sometime over the weekend, but I think the best thing would be to maybe start it sometime next week, once enough time has passed to allow votes to come in, if any.

Thanks again for all the support and the positive reception my LPs have been getting, particularly Lemmings level packs, over the last few years! :thumbsup: Thinking about this, it's hard for me to believe that it's now been about 2.5 years since I started LPing (November 2020)! :lem-shocked: It's also hard for me to swallow the fact I LPed so many level packs during that time! Probably in the 40-50 range by now? As I have stated sometime ago, I'm pretty much a self-declared "the Lemmings LPer." :laugh: Not "a" Lemmings LPer, "the" Lemmings LPer :D
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

Offline kaywhyn

  • Global Moderator
  • Posts: 1846
    • View Profile
All rightie, the poll has been up for a little over 2 weeks. I've intentionally hid the results until after one has voted just in case being able to see them at all times influences the votes, but I have now chosen to reveal them, as I don't think any more votes, especially as it has stayed at 5 for a long time. As you all have seen I started off with Kieran's QFK pack because it had the most votes, after about 5 days of the poll going up. The second most is tied between Lemmings in weirdyland and Mike's Lemmings second version, so it'll be up to me to decide which of those packs to LP after QFK, but I've already know what I'll be doing next. Everything else is also tied after that and hence will be up to me to decide.

I have added the LP links to Revenge of the Lemmings v4.0 and Quest From Kieran to the OP, as they are packs that I have completed :thumbsup: The former is one that was delayed for a while because I wasn't able to solve the final level and was stuck on it for 4 months. My LP of it was essentially intended to be a Christmas 2022/New Year's 2023 gift for the NL community from me, being a compilation of the "best of the NL community up to about 2012." As such, the levels are from various authors, most of whom aren't active anymore in the Lemmings scene, and the difficulty varies. In my experiences, some authors' levels I constantly had more struggles with, particularly those by geoo, Fleech, and tseug. In any case, I absolutely enjoyed going through RotL v4.0, especially the new levels that I haven't seen before that don't exist in earlier versions of the pack in other formats.

As mentioned, there exists other versions of the pack, such as a Lemmini version and one for Old Formats NL that is also labeled v2.0. I've completed the former a while back, while the latter I haven't seen all of it, though I'm guessing that a few might be new levels. Then again, the Lemmini version has an entire Bonus rank consisting of glitch levels, for a total of 210 levels over 7 ranks of 30 levels each, while the latter removed the Bonus rank due to how the glitch levels wouldn't exactly work as intended since many of them relied on a Lemmini-exclusive glitch and therefore has 6 ranks of 30 levels each, for a total of 180 levels. I might go through the old Formats version myself at some point.

The Lemmini version has a similar struggle with the final level, where it was unsolved for about a year. The interesting thing is that the solution came to me shortly after I posted my glitch solution to Icho's Lemmings Reunion pack for Lemmini, as I made the connection of how I could get the glitch required for Lacktardo's Technoir level. However, this doesn't change the fact that Gronkling's Mystery Machine level stumped me the longest out of any other level in the Lemmini version, as I was stuck there for a little over 3 years, all because it uses a floater glitch that I've never seen before. Needless to say, I finally did manage to complete it, but not before I got stumped for a long time on a few levels.


I also enjoyed playing through Kieran Millar's Quest From Kieran pack, which was finally released a few months ago earlier this year. Work on the pack began back in 2017 and was stalled and resumed several times during this 5-6 year period. Several members of the Lemmings Forums did some pre-testing of the pack as well. I'm happy to see Kieran finally released the pack, as I absolutely looked forward to playing through it. Indeed, I was taken by surprise with the high difficulty right out the gate and therefore remaining that way throughout, but as I've stated plenty of times, hard levels are the ones I like and prefer in the game Lemmings, though in actuality I like levels of all difficulties. The pack definitely reminds me of other highly regarded packs that stick to the classic 8 skills, such as Lemmings Migration, Lemmings Stampede, and Nepsterlems, all of which are characterized by levels that are generally small-medium in size with minimal skillsets to create deceivingly difficult levels/puzzles. Sure, I backrouted plenty of the levels, but it doesn't change the fact that I enjoyed QFK very much. The fact that Kieran released a pack that's up there with the difficulty of the packs I've mentioned is quite admirable IMO and therefore is supposed to be a compliment to Kieran :thumbsup:


All rightie, continuing to move down the list in the poll in order of the number of votes. Thanks to those who voted btw! ;)   
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

Offline kaywhyn

  • Global Moderator
  • Posts: 1846
    • View Profile
Another long overdue update to the OP. Added LP links of 4 level packs to it: Lemmings in Weirdyland by weirdybeardy, Mike's Lemmings Version 2 (just the Rigel rank) by Turrican, Unusual Lemmings by Duuddu, and finally Festival Millas 2020 by Gigalem. This essentially means that I've gotten through all 5 packs listed in the poll. Once again, thank you to everyone who has voted and who has helped decide the first two to LP :thumbsup: In the case of the second, that one was a tie, so it was up to me to decide which pack to LP. In that case, I did Lemmings in Weirdyland before doing Mike's Lemmings Version 2.

Lemmings in Weirdyland

This is a level pack by weirdybeardy, who has returned to the Forums after a very long absence sometime last year. This pack is essentially really old Lemmix levels that he made a really long time ago. Not a bad pack at all, just my biggest gripe with it was that a lot of the time limits are super tight. I personally don't mind them, as I love math and numbers, but there was just too many tight ones in a row for my liking that it's very noticeable while playing and therefore is constantly on a player's mind and worry. Except for a few hard levels, the penultimate rank finisher which I consider the hardest of the pack, this one wasn't too bad. In any case, I still thank weirdybeardy for making a New Formats NL pack of his really old levels.


Mike's Lemmings Version 2 (Rigel Rank)

Mike's Lemmings Version 2 is more of an expansion to the original Mike's Lemmings by Turrican. It consists of the 17 levels from the Wild, Wicked, and Bonus ranks of Mike's Lemmings, plus 10 new levels in a new Rigel rank that's right between the Pollux (Wicked rank of Mike's Lemmings) and Bonus ranks. What I really like about the Rigel rank is that these levels are really great to look at. Turrican puts a lot of attention to details in his artistic craft when making levels :thumbsup: These levels are also considerably harder than the original Wild and Wicked ranks of Mike's Lemmings. However, if you think of the Rigel rank as the equivalent of the Havoc rank, which is the rank that comes after both Wild and Wicked in ONML, then it makes complete sense that the new Rigel rank is really hard. Indeed, through the feedback I gave Turrican, there were a few levels in the early part of the rank that I consider too difficult for their position. As a result, they have moved to later in the rank.

In addition, there originally was a very unfair Rigel 10, the final level of the rank, that required a lot of precision. I ended up rage quitting the level in my LP and didn't come back to it for about a month before finally succeeding in pulling off the very tough execution during a 2-3 hour session when I had some spare time. Trust me, you DO NOT want to play the level in its original form! I still have it in case anyone wants to give it a try, but I'm almost 100% certain you don't want to play it. It will cause a lot of frustration and rage! In other words, I have spared future players the pain and agony of going through the same experience as me. I simply want them to enjoy Turrican's levels and packs. Due to the feedback I gave Turrican, he has released modified versions of the level that's split into two parts. There are now helpful markers that completely eliminate any guesswork if you can figure out what they mean. Believe me, you will thank me and Turrican that you didn't have to play the original version! ;)

Despite the original Rigel 10 really making me rage, I still enjoyed the new Rigel rank and the challenges within. Let's just say that I gave the original Rigel 10 another chance and that I'm always one to come back and finish what I started :) I don't like leaving things unfinished on the table. So, thank you to Turrican for Mike's Lemmings Version 2, and if you ever decide to make more packs in the future I will look forward to them! :thumbsup:


Unusual Lemmings

Unusual Lemmings is the third level pack by Duuddu. It follows the exact same structure as his previous two packs in that there are 3 ranks named Easy, Normal, and Hard, in that order, each with 5 levels. I would say that while this was an all right pack, it was more frustrating than it needed to be. In particular, I called out Hard 1 as being way too precise, similar to how Icho and I called out Hard 1 of Surge Lemmings also being precise. Don't get me wrong, the level ideas are great, but they involve things that seem to be general dislikes in the NL community. That's pretty much the only thing that confuses me in that if Duuddu was already told these tricks are not well-liked from his previous pack, then why continue to make such levels requiring them? I know my feedback was probably more harsh than it needed to be, but honestly it kind of didn't help that this came not too long after I played the original Rigel 10. Sadly, this was also present in a final rank level of FM2020, which I LPed after finishing this one, only fueling my rage even more :(

There were still some great gems in this pack, and some of it was still enjoyable and fun to figure out. Even then, I know Duuddu is capable of making great levels, so if he ever makes more packs in the future, I would simply make sure to avoid making the same mistake of putting in those not well-liked tricks in the Hard 1 levels. Thus, I still thank Duuddu for his newest pack and that I hope he takes onboard the feedback I given him so future packs can be improved. Please excuse me if some of it did come across harshly!


Festival Millas 2020

FM2020 is the third holiday pack in the series by Gigalem. Like the previous two packs in the FM series, there are also levels by Plom510 and Nessy. I must say, FM2020 is my favorite pack of the series thus far! :thumbsup: It's definitely a lot harder than either of the previous packs, but I really enjoyed this one. A lot of great puzzles and many were great fun to figure out. Some I have already played from LOTY2020 due to some of these levels being nominated for it. I absolutely enjoyed this from start to finish.

My main criticism here are difficult to distinguish between background and solid terrain in the graphic sets. At first, I thought it was due to my old age and bad eyes, but no, it's not. Don't get me wrong, these new graphic sets are great, but there are plenty of things that can easily be confused and mistaken for solid terrain when in fact it's background, or vice versa. I've already pointed out some of these issues when I wrote my feedback in the level pack topic, as well as give Gigalem some feedback on that on Discord. I think that was going to be the central focus point of the overhauls, but FM2020 has yet to get one. I think same with FM2019.

Despite this, again I really enjoyed FM2020. Thank you gentlemen for this pack! I therefore look forward to FM2021 and FM2022 when I get to them! :thumbsup:


With this, I'm pretty much now on my hiatus from the game of Lemmings. I don't know when I'll return to the Lemmings scene, but I definitely need a break! In addition, I don't exactly know how much I'll be LPing and recording other content for my YT channel during this time. I been stressing out more than I normally do in recent times, and it's probably getting to the point that it's becoming a bit unhealthy for me. As a result, something that I been thinking about, and that is I might retired from LPing after 2.5 years. Or, if not, hopefully it means that I just need to take an extensive break from recording and LPing. If people still want me to LP instead of retired from it completely, then I'll continue to do so, but again it might not be for a while. Really, it's more that I need to look out for myself matter more than anything, and if I need to take a break from LPing to help me do so, then so be it.

Thoughts?     
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0