Dzware Posted April 27, 2021 Share Posted April 27, 2021 Oh damn, looks like the game is kicking your butt lol Good to know though that this plat is harder than people anticipated. Just curious now if the dark worlds difficulty will ramp up like in the first game, or more random (seeing as how it's procedurally generated). Also, how are you enjoying the game so far? I really like how informative your updates are, but I'm also interested in what you actually think about them, and also for example if the challenges in a game are fun or just frustrating. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Arcesius Posted April 27, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted April 27, 2021 23 minutes ago, Dzware said: Also, how are you enjoying the game so far? I really like how informative your updates are, but I'm also interested in what you actually think about them, and also for example if the challenges in a game are fun or just frustrating. I second this. First of all, don't worry if your updates are shorter than you'd like them to be If anything, this game might be the first one that actually fits the title of your challenge! But yes, I'd also love to know if the game is any fun. I didn't buy it myself yet, and from watching some gameplay it really looks sometimes as if the flow is broken often.. I wonder if you notice that while playing as well, or if the pathing is mostly clear and the game-stuttering (or at least it looks like that everytime an action is performed) isn't noticeable. Also, from the perspective of someone that loves themselves a challenge.. is this the type of challenge that can be enjoyed, or is it enfuriating? ? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted April 29, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 29, 2021 (edited) On 4/27/2021 at 8:22 AM, Dzware said: Oh damn, looks like the game is kicking your butt lol Good to know though that this plat is harder than people anticipated. Just curious now if the dark worlds difficulty will ramp up like in the first game, or more random (seeing as how it's procedurally generated). Also, how are you enjoying the game so far? I really like how informative your updates are, but I'm also interested in what you actually think about them, and also for example if the challenges in a game are fun or just frustrating. Kicking my butt? This game may as well have me stuffed and mounted above the fireplace. ? I can't get anything done. I've thought about trying different seeds to see if other variations of the first dark world would be easier than the one I'm working on but I've already spent so much time learning the set of levels in front of me that I feel like I might string a lucky deathless run together in less time than it would take me to master an entirely new set of levels (there's no guarantee these levels would be any easier than the ones I'm faced with anyway). If the dark worlds are anything like the light worlds, the difficulty will only slightly ramp up (the difficulty felt unusually even throughout). It may be wishful thinking, but I think Teak Girl will be one of the biggest stumbling blocks for most players. Once they've overcome it, they'll have developed the skill to face the other dark worlds with their sanity intact. I haven't really been sure how to address my enjoyment of a game in these updates. The reality is that I get most of my enjoyment from the satisfaction I feel when I overcome a challenge, not from the process of overcoming the challenge itself. On 4/27/2021 at 8:48 AM, Arcesius said: I second this. First of all, don't worry if your updates are shorter than you'd like them to be If anything, this game might be the first one that actually fits the title of your challenge! But yes, I'd also love to know if the game is any fun. I didn't buy it myself yet, and from watching some gameplay it really looks sometimes as if the flow is broken often.. I wonder if you notice that while playing as well, or if the pathing is mostly clear and the game-stuttering (or at least it looks like that everytime an action is performed) isn't noticeable. Also, from the perspective of someone that loves themselves a challenge.. is this the type of challenge that can be enjoyed, or is it enfuriating? That's kind of you to say ? I've been thinking about trying a goal-based approach in which I post updates as soon as I achieve certain goals instead of posting an update every X days to keep this sort of thing from happening again. I'll put some thought into it! Hmm, by "stuttering," do you mean the bit of slow-mo that happens whenever you attack an enemy/object? It is annoying initially but you'll eventually adapt to it since the duration of the slow-mo is consistent. Unfortunately, you need that bit of extra time in some cases to react to the next obstacle and the levels feel designed with that slow-mo-stutter effect in mind. It's a questionable design choice regardless and could absolutely affect your enjoyment of the game if it breaks your sense of flow. I wish I could give you a more helpful answer about whether the challenge in this game is enjoyable or infuriating, but I honestly don't know. I get infuriated at most difficult games ?. The problem is that my response to that emotion is inconsistent. Sometimes anger and frustration push me forward, other times they demotivate me. I will mention something that bothers me about the game if that can help partially answer the question: the diving speed is too fast. I don't know if I'm just slow, but the diving speed feels so fast that I'm often unable to react to post-dive obstacles in time. I often have to memorize the timing through trial-and-error which can be a total pain (the game Thumper is a similar case for me wherein I had to memorize entire levels because I was incapable of reacting to the obstacles in time; needless to say, I dropped the game after awhile ?). Edited April 30, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Already playing the game I see. I'll just wait until a few platinum achievers tell me how hard the game is before I'll play it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnlMatrix Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 3 hours ago, AJ_Radio said: Already playing the game I see. I'll just wait until a few platinum achievers tell me how hard the game is before I'll play it. If you don't mind me asking, why though? Aside from the aspect of "it looks interesting enough for you to play it, so play it", I'm wondering as to how accurate those opinions are going to be. The first few plat achievers or those that are really close blasted through this game. Maybe they perceive it as difficult but it's easier for them to adapt. Who knows? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trumpet_Boi_208 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 10 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: I wish I could give you a helpful answer about whether the challenge in this game is enjoyable or infuriating, but I honestly don't know. I get infuriated at most difficult games . The problem is that my response to that emotion is inconsistent. Sometimes anger and frustration push me forward, other times they demotivate me. Perhaps a good way to know for sure is to ask yourself if it was a good kind of challenge. In other words, are you getting more mad at yourself than the game for your failures? A personal example of a good challenge is Trackmania Turbo. I definitely raged at this game throughout, especially during the Black Series. However, I still really enjoyed them, because the difficulty may have been incredibly tough, but it was in a way that felt (mostly) fair. When I would fail a jump, or overshoot a turn, I would usually get mad at myself for being incompetent, not because it was out of my control. Conversely, an example of a bad challenge is Titanfall 2’s campaign on Master difficulty. The game became less of what it’s vision was and more like Call of Duty’s veteran difficulty, with even less cover, and the ability to cloak yourself. All you can really do is either hide in cover and pick off the enemies, or cloak yourself and run past the enemies. I got frustrated with my deaths, as I was challenged in a way that wasn’t fun to overcome. TBOI is probably a bad kind of challenge for you, as you seem tired of going through the same rooms over and over again, while also contending with the RNG in the items you get. The challenge of The Lost would have probably pushed you to the breaking point if you didn’t decide to take a break. Perhaps you’re more motivated when you fail in a game like SMBF or Splasher than in a game like TBOI? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
You Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 (edited) TBOI is one of those games that is pretty random, I am not sure if I like those kind of games in general. I mean for sure, raw dexterity as a skill is a great thing, but when things are a bit too random and then you have to win by having some really good luck. If something is hard I kind of want it to be learnable or else it doesn't seem as fair. It would be like taking an exam at school with completely random questions one hundred times and not passing it on the 100th attempt not down to skill, but that one time the questions were in my favour. That is actually one reason I think you would have found Catherine to be a tough challenge since a lot of the block variations are random on a lot of stages. Although I feel Catherine is way fairer. Edited April 29, 2021 by enaysoft 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grayhammmer Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 I saw that you finally got Teak Boy, so congratulations. Let's hope that the experience will help you complete the next dark worlds faster. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destructor-8 Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 I was meant to post here awhile ago whilst you were doing your other games but I never got around to it. Nice to see that you have started this instead as it's sometimes nice to change game especially if it's a new game that is well known to be hard. It let's you not miss out on it. I hope you continue to get through this. It really sounds like this one is living up to the challenge. I'm debating on whether I should do something similar as I've been on a racing project where I hope to eventually finish all the hardest racers possible or just general ones that I'm yet to play, so I've got quite a few on the go. As some might know I'm currently doing one of the hardest hotlaps in Assetto & have been on it for a few days as using a controller is a challenge on top of what is already a ridiculously difficult game to finish. I'm quite close to a few of the hotlaps so maybe I should do something similar where I can post my progress. I really enjoy reading this thread as it's great to follow someone's progress on notoriously difficult games where it feels like a journey. I'm sure knowing that lots of people read this thread is already huge motivation for you. Keep up the good work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ_Radio Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 16 hours ago, JohnlMatrix said: If you don't mind me asking, why though? Aside from the aspect of "it looks interesting enough for you to play it, so play it", I'm wondering as to how accurate those opinions are going to be. The first few plat achievers or those that are really close blasted through this game. Maybe they perceive it as difficult but it's easier for them to adapt. Who knows? I ended up enjoying Super Meat Boy despite my real hard struggles with it. But I don’t know if I want to jump into Super Meat Boy Forever this early on. Awesome job to the one person who already has the platinum. If this is even more difficult, this will probably be a game I’ll put on the far back burner. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grayhammmer Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 If you don't mind answering, on your hunt for challenging ultra rare completions have there been games that made you question why they were ultra rare? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted May 1, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 1, 2021 (edited) Super Meat Boy Forever ~ Update #2~ We're back on track! ~Trophies Unlocked: Awarded for beating Chipper Grove Dark World without dying. What's been happening? Between updates #1 and #2, I've died 2,442 times. That's a lotta death! At least another deathrun is off the board! We've got quite a bit to cover in today's update including another wave of basics so I hope you're ready! Today, I'm going to: Talk about "Dark Worlds" Highlight a useful bit of speedrunning tech Explain why the very first dark world nearly destroyed me Let's start by explaining what a dark world is. Dark worlds in SMBF are basically harder alternate versions of the "light" worlds that you travel through during the game's main story. If you like, you can think of them as bonus levels for players that are looking for a little extra challenge. These worlds retain the same gameplay gimmicks that are introduced in their light counterparts but amp the difficulty up to eleven. You can finish the main story and even begin new game+ without ever visiting a dark world if you so choose, but you'd be missing out on some of the most creative (and merciless) levels the game has to offer. Unlike the light worlds, each of the levels in a dark world need to be unlocked individually. To unlock a dark world level, the player must obtain an A+ grade on the corresponding light world level. For example, if I earn an A+ on level 3 of Chipper Grove Light World, I will unlock level 3 of Chipper Grove Dark World.But wait, how do you earn an "A+ grade?" Earning an A+ grade on a level requires you need to beat the level's par time (these times will always be displayed at the top of the screen along with convenient split times at each checkpoint which help give you an idea of where you're gaining or losing time in each section of a level). Thankfully, you can lose as many lives as you want and still beat a level's par time because each death resets the timer back to where it stood when you hit the most recent checkpoint. While checkpoints make it much easier to earn a level's A+ grade, par times are still tight and occasionally require the use of more advanced movement techniques to beat. I'm going to highlight one easy-to-learn learn technique below that will help you move much faster than you normally would. This technique probably has a more formal name elsewhere, but I'll refer to it throughout these updates as attack boosting. The input for attack boosting is fairly straightforward. Simply double tap to perform a short hop followed by an attack, dive back to the ground using , and repeat. Basically, what you're trying to do is maximize the time spent attacking, which, strangely enough, is far faster than running in SMBF. You can use this technique to speed up during sections that do not require any additional input to shave tons of time off the clock. So, what took you so long to get this most recent deathless run completed? As some of you already know, I love to use reference videos to learn the general routing of difficult levels. They're usually insightful, save me tons of time, and give me a baseline from which to improve. However, because procedural generation is kind of SMB Forever's shtick, reference videos are not going to be very helpful unless I were to use the same seed as the player that posted the video (I've chosen to use a randomly generated seed for the time being). Since references are not an option, I have to carve my own routes through these levels. Besides the jump in difficulty in going from the light worlds to the dark worlds, coming up with my own routes has been a time-consuming process filled with frustration and trial-and-error, so I've been playing at a slower pace to prevent me from losing motivation. Reference issues aside, it's been awhile since we've taken a closer look at specific in-game obstacles so I'd like us to take a quick look at one of the most ridiculous sections I've come across so far in a level fittingly titled "Path to Pain." At a glance, this may look like a straightforward series of wall jumps as you descend through a buzz saw fever dream...but that's not really the case. After squashing the two flies in the beginning of the gif, notice the first three jumps that take place between the saw blades. Each of these jumps require you to dive at a precise point mid-jump. Dive too early and you'll slam into the saw below. Dive too late (or not at all) and you'll crash into the saws on the adjacent wall. So the input for this section looks something like this: , , , , , . All six inputs are short taps that need to be carefully timed and, despite tons of practice (and hundreds of deaths), it's still a pain to perform. Sections like this that demand intense focus and precision seem to be commonplace in SMB Forever's dark worlds and I'm curious to see just how far the game is willing to push the player as we carry on! Let's hope the next dark world goes a little easier on me. Here's the full deathless run through SMB Forever's first dark world if you'd like to check it out! Super Meat Boy Forever - Chipper Grove Dark World Deathless What's next? We're going to be trying something new for the next few weeks! Until Super Meat Boy Forever is finished, I'm going to be posting updates once certain objectives are completed instead of scheduling updates every few days. This approach will give me a little more breathing room and hopefully ensure that future updates are up to my standards. The next update will be posted once I beat The Clinic Dark World without dying! If two weeks pass without success, I will post a shorter update discussing my difficulties! Thank you for sticking with me and I'll see you all soon! ? Edited May 4, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnlMatrix Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 Awesome update as always. Once again, congrats on getting teak girl done. I didn't have time to play the last couple of days but I made slight progress when I did. The lack of reference is something that really makes it harder to complete those no-death runs. From what I'm seeing, some of my chunks in SMBF are harder, some are easier than yours and other people on youtube. I have to say that I don't really have a problem with path to pain but rather 1-2x and sometimes 1-4x. However, I don't have a ridiculous section in 1-5x as the one you showed us. Either I'm missing some specific movement tech or 1-2x asks me to pull of the slightest of taps you can imagine while also being timing sensitive. It's still way too inconsistent. Just one quick question: My clinic warp zone is in the dark world, 2-6x. Don't know how many different variations there are. Mine is visible but behind seemingly indestrucible walls from both sides and the top is closed as well. If I get too low I die, so approaching from the bottom doesn't seem to be an option as well. Maybe someone can share their strategy if they encountered this. Checking youtube or google didn't help as people's warp zones were located elsewhere or they didn't even show how they got there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baker Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 Hey you changed games. Good. TBOI is such a boring game. Awesome job as always! I would like to replace my recommendation from Dariusburst to Ys Origin. Although I think it would never win the poll I would be really interested to see what you think about that game. I personally think it’s tough as nails. I would gladly trade in my SMB, Trials Fusion and Trackmania Turbo platinums combined to be able to finish this game. I really don’t understand the platinum rarity at all. Anyway, good luck with SMB Forever. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeman4200 Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 Damn, it was nice giving updates for boi along with you. Helped me keep pushing. But I love boi so it ain't hard to not want to play it. I finally beat isaac with the lost and almost beat satan. That last satan phase never was hard but those flying worms that blow up are the worst. Also I finally unlocked the keeper by donating 1000 coins in greed or greedier. Greedier is greed but hard mode and another boss phase. I finally know the last phase so it seriously looks like I'm going to be able to 100% boi someday. The plat is getting closer everyday! Hopefully you come back to boi quicker than you are thinking! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted May 4, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 4, 2021 (edited) Hopefully it won't always take me 5-7 business days to reply. ? Sorry everyone! On 4/29/2021 at 10:10 AM, Trumpet_Boi_208 said: Perhaps a good way to know for sure is to ask yourself if it was a good kind of challenge. In other words, are you getting more mad at yourself than the game for your failures? A personal example of a good challenge is Trackmania Turbo. I definitely raged at this game throughout, especially during the Black Series. However, I still really enjoyed them, because the difficulty may have been incredibly tough, but it was in a way that felt (mostly) fair. When I would fail a jump, or overshoot a turn, I would usually get mad at myself for being incompetent, not because it was out of my control. Conversely, an example of a bad challenge is Titanfall 2’s campaign on Master difficulty. The game became less of what it’s vision was and more like Call of Duty’s veteran difficulty, with even less cover, and the ability to cloak yourself. All you can really do is either hide in cover and pick off the enemies, or cloak yourself and run past the enemies. I got frustrated with my deaths, as I was challenged in a way that wasn’t fun to overcome. TBOI is probably a bad kind of challenge for you, as you seem tired of going through the same rooms over and over again, while also contending with the RNG in the items you get. The challenge of The Lost would have probably pushed you to the breaking point if you didn’t decide to take a break. Perhaps you’re more motivated when you fail in a game like SMBF or Splasher than in a game like TBOI? Absolutely, that's an important distinction to make when it comes to challenge. A challenge that makes the player mad at the game is usually way more frustrating than a challenge that makes the player mad at themselves. That said, it may not always be a clear cut case. One of the most difficult aspects of SMB Forever is trying to figure out safe and consistent routing for the deathless runs. On one hand, it's easy for me to get mad at the game because consistency can be difficult to achieve (movement can feel erratic/some of the gimmicks that SMB Forever has thrown into the mix feel sloppily integrated into the levels and it complicates trying to find consistent solutions) but it's unfortunately just as easy to get mad at myself because I can be slow to find a solution that works and often assume that most of the frustration I feel is from my own personal failings rather than any fault of the game. Well, with TBOI, there was thankfully the cloud save exploit so I'm sure I would have just continued using that than be pushed to a breaking point (at least as far as challenge is concerned) . But you're right. For me, failure in a game like SMBF or Splasher is educational and can help me improve in the future while failure in a game like TBOI can feel like I've just pissed off some higher power and didn't necessarily make any major mistakes. On 4/29/2021 at 10:42 AM, enaysoft said: TBOI is one of those games that is pretty random, I am not sure if I like those kind of games in general. I mean for sure, raw dexterity as a skill is a great thing, but when things are a bit too random and then you have to win by having some really good luck. If something is hard I kind of want it to be learnable or else it doesn't seem as fair. It would be like taking an exam at school with completely random questions one hundred times and not passing it on the 100th attempt not down to skill, but that one time the questions were in my favour. That is actually one reason I think you would have found Catherine to be a tough challenge since a lot of the block variations are random on a lot of stages. Although I feel Catherine is way fairer. I'm the same way. While I can understand the appeal of developing raw dexterity by facing randomized challenges, a lot of the fun is lost for me if luck factors into my success. With luck, it's harder to tell whether you're actually improving at the game or if it's all just a roll of the dice. Since improvement can be trickier to detect in a game like Rebirth, frustration sets in much more quickly than something like SMB where you can tangibly see improvement after a few hours of practice. I'm sure Catherine would be tough! The stages in the Tower of Babel have semi-random arrangements that would make my head spin and earning gold medals in the story (and surviving the arcade) would stretch whatever's left in my skull assuming I don't watch videos of the solutions. When Catherine eventually wins the poll, I've been thinking about adding mini-polls (just for fun) every few days with 1-2 of the more interesting morality questions from the game (except I'd make the poll results public so anyone can click to see who voted for which morally dubious option). On 4/29/2021 at 7:44 PM, grayhammmer said: I saw that you finally got Teak Boy, so congratulations. Let's hope that the experience will help you complete the next dark worlds faster. Thanks! So far, the second dark world is looking to be just as tricky as the first. ? On 4/29/2021 at 8:42 PM, Destructor-8 said: I was meant to post here awhile ago whilst you were doing your other games but I never got around to it. Nice to see that you have started this instead as it's sometimes nice to change game especially if it's a new game that is well known to be hard. It let's you not miss out on it. I hope you continue to get through this. It really sounds like this one is living up to the challenge. I'm debating on whether I should do something similar as I've been on a racing project where I hope to eventually finish all the hardest racers possible or just general ones that I'm yet to play, so I've got quite a few on the go. As some might know I'm currently doing one of the hardest hotlaps in Assetto & have been on it for a few days as using a controller is a challenge on top of what is already a ridiculously difficult game to finish. I'm quite close to a few of the hotlaps so maybe I should do something similar where I can post my progress. I really enjoy reading this thread as it's great to follow someone's progress on notoriously difficult games where it feels like a journey. I'm sure knowing that lots of people read this thread is already huge motivation for you. Keep up the good work! I've been happy to see so much support for the switch to SMBF although it's a shame that my updates have been so infrequent following the changeup (motivation tends to come and go in bursts lately which frustrates me to no end). That's awesome! Your racing project sounds like a great idea and I'm sure it could draw a crowd if it's something you're passionate about. I've been curious about how doable Assetto is on controller myself since there's no way I'd buy a racing wheel for just one game. If you decide to make your own checklist, just promise me you'll do a better job than I have of replying to everyone in a timely manner. ? Thanks, I really appreciate the kind words and wish you the best of luck on your project! ? On 4/29/2021 at 8:48 PM, AJ_Radio said: I ended up enjoying Super Meat Boy despite my real hard struggles with it. But I don’t know if I want to jump into Super Meat Boy Forever this early on. Awesome job to the one person who already has the platinum. If this is even more difficult, this will probably be a game I’ll put on the far back burner. I think you've made the right call in waiting to jump in. Since the levels are procedurally generated, the difficulty can be all over the place. ? If you wait for other players to identify "easy" seeds and record deathless runs using those seeds, the platinum should be significantly easier to obtain. It's just going to take time for players to find those seeds (I'm sure you could get it done with a random seed if you wanted to, but you will save yourself some frustrating if you wait for specific seeds). On 5/1/2021 at 7:01 PM, grayhammmer said: If you don't mind answering, on your hunt for challenging ultra rare completions have there been games that made you question why they were ultra rare? Well, for the most part, ultra rare trophies are from games that meet one or more of the following criteria: 1. The game isn't fun. 2. The trophy list isn't fun. 3. Free or featured on PS+. 4. Difficult. 5. Time-consuming. I haven't really seen any ultra rare games that check none of these boxes. That said, there are tons of threads devoted to "easy ultra rare trophies" so I'm sure there are some exceptions out there. I just couldn't give you any good ones from what I've played up to this point. On 5/2/2021 at 5:10 AM, JohnlMatrix said: Awesome update as always. Once again, congrats on getting teak girl done. I didn't have time to play the last couple of days but I made slight progress when I did. The lack of reference is something that really makes it harder to complete those no-death runs. From what I'm seeing, some of my chunks in SMBF are harder, some are easier than yours and other people on youtube. I have to say that I don't really have a problem with path to pain but rather 1-2x and sometimes 1-4x. However, I don't have a ridiculous section in 1-5x as the one you showed us. Either I'm missing some specific movement tech or 1-2x asks me to pull of the slightest of taps you can imagine while also being timing sensitive. It's still way too inconsistent. Just one quick question: My clinic warp zone is in the dark world, 2-6x. Don't know how many different variations there are. Mine is visible but behind seemingly indestrucible walls from both sides and the top is closed as well. If I get too low I die, so approaching from the bottom doesn't seem to be an option as well. Maybe someone can share their strategy if they encountered this. Checking youtube or google didn't help as people's warp zones were located elsewhere or they didn't even show how they got there. Thanks, I'm sure you'll have Teak Girl done soon as well! ? Yeah, chunks seem to be really inconsistent in difficulty. It seems like there are always one or two chunks per level with a ridiculously high level of difficulty surrounded by more mundane busywork chunks. I wonder how long it will take for players to comprehensively compare chunk difficulty and find seeds that are the easiest/most optimal for the deathless runs. With how small the player base is, I don't think I'll be expecting much anytime soon. If you have a screenshot (or video) of the warp zone portal, you could try posting it here and see if any of us can puzzle it out. Worst case, I think you'll just be able to find another world 2 warp zone in NG+ if you're not able to reach the one in your current game. I similarly have a pacifier in 2-2x between two sawblades that I have no idea how to reach, but I think I'll worry about it another day. ? On 5/2/2021 at 6:00 AM, Baker said: Hey you changed games. Good. TBOI is such a boring game. Awesome job as always! I would like to replace my recommendation from Dariusburst to Ys Origin. Although I think it would never win the poll I would be really interested to see what you think about that game. I personally think it’s tough as nails. I would gladly trade in my SMB, Trials Fusion and Trackmania Turbo platinums combined to be able to finish this game. I really don’t understand the platinum rarity at all. Anyway, good luck with SMB Forever. Yeah, I really needed a break from TBOI. ? It's not bad in short bursts but long sessions could be draining and I just couldn't keep my motivation up long enough to wrap it up. I do plan to get back it to after SMB Forever but only after I figure out another approach that won't leave me feeling miserable. Will do! Dariusburst will be swapped for Ys Origin. I remember you mentioning awhile back that this game gave you serious trouble, (mostly from crashes if I'm remembering correctly but glitches and confusing unlock criteria may have played a part as well?) so I can't say I'm looking forward to dealing with that, but hey, at least it's a new way to destroy me I guess. ? Thanks, hopefully I'll be able to pick up the pace sometime soon! On 5/2/2021 at 11:52 PM, freeman4200 said: Damn, it was nice giving updates for boi along with you. Helped me keep pushing. But I love boi so it ain't hard to not want to play it. I finally beat isaac with the lost and almost beat satan. That last satan phase never was hard but those flying worms that blow up are the worst. Also I finally unlocked the keeper by donating 1000 coins in greed or greedier. Greedier is greed but hard mode and another boss phase. I finally know the last phase so it seriously looks like I'm going to be able to 100% boi someday. The plat is getting closer everyday! Hopefully you come back to boi quicker than you are thinking! Sorry about the changeup. ? I just couldn't take much more of Rebirth without losing my mind. I'll be back in the not-too-distant-future though if SMBF lets me! Congrats on beating Isaac with the Lost and for unlocking the Keeper! I'm glad you've been able to keep motivated even though I've taken a break. I think you've had it much rougher than me overall since you don't seem to take advantage of the cloud save exploit, so, when the day comes and you finally earn that plat, you'll seriously deserve it. Keep pushing! Edited May 5, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnlMatrix Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: Thanks, I'm sure you'll have Teak Girl done soon as well! Yeah, chunks seem to be really inconsistent in difficulty. It seems like there are always one or two chunks per level with a ridiculously high level of difficulty surrounded by more mundane busywork chunks. I wonder how long it will take for players to comprehensively compare chunk difficulty and find seeds that are the easiest/most optimal for the deathless runs. With how small the player base is, I don't think I'll be expecting much anytime soon. If you have a screenshot (or video) of the warp zone portal, you could try posting it here and see if any of us can puzzle it out. Worst case, I think you'll just be able to find another world 2 warp zone in NG+ if you're not able to reach the one in your current game. I similarly have a pacifier in 2-2x between two sawblades that I have no idea how to reach, but I think I'll worry about it another day. Thanks, I hope so^^. Don't have that much time to play right now. I have gotten better. I mangaged to trim down the deaths heavily and doing some levels deathless within a run isn't much of a problem anymore. It's just that some sections really give me trouble because they are so inconsistent for me. Either I haven't found the right strategy yet or I'm still not skilled enough for them. I think we can agree that one shouldn't try the no-death runs in NG+ because of the potential of the increased difficulty. The dev Tommy Refenes said that each chunk is associated with a number that indicates the difficulty of that specific chunk. It ranges from 1 to 7 with 1 being the easiest and 7 being the hardest difficulty-wise. In your first playthrough the chunks seem to be assembled out of a pool where the max difficulty is a 4. So you only encounter chunks ranging from 1 to 4 in a NG. In a NG+ however that pool contains chunks of all difficulty levels. Could you please tell me how you do your GIFs on these updates? I'll try to show the section if I don't manage to get it soon. Thanks :-) Edited May 4, 2021 by JohnlMatrix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted May 4, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 4, 2021 (edited) On 5/4/2021 at 5:49 AM, JohnlMatrix said: Could you please tell me how you do your GIFs on these updates? I'll try to show the section if I don't manage to get it soon. Thanks :-) Sure thing! I'll try to lay it out step by step. Unfortunately, it's going to be more effort than posting a video. 1. Upload a video containing the footage you want the GIF to contain to YouTube (can be a public/unlisted video, doesn't matter as long as you have the URL). 2. Go to Imgur.com > New Post > Video to GIF 3. Paste the URL of the video you uploaded into the search bar. 4. Find the section of the video you want to include in the GIF and use the on-site tools to identify the start and end points of the GIF (along with GIF duration). 5. Once you are satisfied, click "Create GIF". 6. [May not be necessary] In the lower right-hand corner, click "use old design." 7. Hover over the newly finished gif and click the arrow that appears in the upper-right corner. 8. Click "Get Share Links" > copy the text under "BBCode (Forums)." 9. Paste this text on any PSNP forum post and the GIF should appear once you post. 10. (Optional) I'd recommend using the "preview" tool on PSNP (the icon to the right of font size) to make sure the GIF will show up before you post anything. Edited October 24, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_carlito94 Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 It’s nice to see some in depth explanation for SMBF. I’m currently playing the first SMB so I’m not even going to think about attempting Forever before I’m done with first one. Really curious to see what you think about the difficulty of SMBF once you’ve become the Ultimate God (just quoting the title). I’m confident that you’ll eventually get there with the amount of platformers you’ve done. Good luck 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnlMatrix Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 5 hours ago, ExistentialSolid said: Sure thing! I'll try to lay it out step by step. Unfortunately, it's going to be more effort than posting a video. Wow, thank you :-). That is pretty detailed. I might make use of this in the future. 4 hours ago, Don_carlito94 said: It’s nice to see some in depth explanation for SMBF. I’m currently playing the first SMB so I’m not even going to think about attempting Forever before I’m done with first one. Really curious to see what you think about the difficulty of SMBF once you’ve become the Ultimate God (just quoting the title). I’m confident that you’ll eventually get there with the amount of platformers you’ve done. Good luck I also think @ExistentialSolid has got what it takes to obtain the plat in SMBF. Just to let off some steam: Teak Girl is driving me kinda nuts. The amount of precision required during some chunks is insane. In SMB you get comfortable with the levels after a while and when attempting the no-death runs you obviously start with those that you have the most problems with. Ideally the number of said levels is pretty small. In SMBF you only have 6 instead of 20 levels but the length of a run should be about the same given the much longer IL size in SMBF. In dark Chipper Grove I have only two levels that are kind of consistent, 1-1x and 1-3x. And it's, as I said, kind of consistent. They are certainly no freebies. Then there are the other 4 levels which I sometimes play through flawlessly and sometimes not. The death count isn't all too high but at the moment I feel like I'm far away of stringing together a run where every piece falls into place. Also I have already played the dark versions of the Clinic and Tetanusville. Good lord, this won't be any easier than dark Chipper Grove. I'm eager to see you guys also going for it. Unfortunately the differences in our playthroughs brought along by the seed system don't really allow comparisons apart from some chunks every now and then. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted May 7, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 7, 2021 (edited) On 5/4/2021 at 1:38 PM, Don_carlito94 said: It’s nice to see some in depth explanation for SMBF. I’m currently playing the first SMB so I’m not even going to think about attempting Forever before I’m done with first one. Really curious to see what you think about the difficulty of SMBF once you’ve become the Ultimate God (just quoting the title). I’m confident that you’ll eventually get there with the amount of platformers you’ve done. Good luck Thanks, I appreciate it! ? If I ever survive SMBF, I'll make it a point to discuss the difficulty! On 5/4/2021 at 5:54 PM, JohnlMatrix said: Just to let off some steam: Teak Girl is driving me kinda nuts. The amount of precision required during some chunks is insane. In SMB you get comfortable with the levels after a while and when attempting the no-death runs you obviously start with those that you have the most problems with. Ideally the number of said levels is pretty small. In SMBF you only have 6 instead of 20 levels but the length of a run should be about the same given the much longer IL size in SMBF. In dark Chipper Grove I have only two levels that are kind of consistent, 1-1x and 1-3x. And it's, as I said, kind of consistent. They are certainly no freebies. Then there are the other 4 levels which I sometimes play through flawlessly and sometimes not. The death count isn't all too high but at the moment I feel like I'm far away of stringing together a run where every piece falls into place. Also I have already played the dark versions of the Clinic and Tetanusville. Good lord, this won't be any easier than dark Chipper Grove. I'm eager to see you guys also going for it. Unfortunately the differences in our playthroughs brought along by the seed system don't really allow comparisons apart from some chunks every now and then. I felt the same way throughout my time with Teak Girl. ? I was never thrilled with my levels of consistency no matter how long I played (1-5X in particular had a 20% success rate at best). And, I don't know about you, but sometimes the most consistent routing through certain levels can feel so sketchy, that I end up constantly questioning whether my route was intended by the level designers or if it was just some bizarre coincidence that happened to work out. I always feel pressure to experiment in some misguided effort to find routing that works more reliably, but I rarely find anything worth the trouble. I think my tendency to experiment with routing (instead of focusing on the routes I already have) is part of why my death count jumped so dramatically between Other Side Light and Chipper Grove Dark. Agreed there! I've played through the dark version of the Clinic and uh...I think I'm going to be here awhile. ? Edited October 24, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted May 20, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 20, 2021 (edited) Super Meat Boy Forever ~ Update #3[Out of Steam Edition]Trophies Unlocked: Awarded for beating The Clinic Dark World without dying. What's been happening? Hey everyone! It's been a little while and I'm sorry I've been getting worse about keeping this thread up to date. Unfortunately, I think this will be my last update for the next month or so. I just can't find the motivation to continue and I don't want to waste anyone's time with updates that have no "oomph" behind them. I'll talk a little more about my decision in the "What's next?" section below. In the last update, I had hoped the next dark world would be a little easier than the first and...surprisingly, it was. With the initial difficulty spike of the first dark world out of the way, the difficulty has effectively flatlined. While Chipper Grove Dark World took me about 15 hours and 2400+ deaths to string together a deathless run, The Clinic Dark World only took around 7 hours and 1500+ deaths to complete (most of those deaths taking place during the experimentation/learning process). I expect the next dark world to similarly last 6-10 hours once it's finished, but we'll have to see how things pan out. Since the difficulty hasn't notably increased, I've been trying to figure out what would be worth discussing in this update, but there isn't much that fits the bill. There were no absurdly difficult sections or obstacles that would really benefit from in-depth coverage. I could spend a few paragraphs discussing the gimmicks that make The Clinic unique and how you might deal with them, but that would ultimately serve as filler. Instead, I'm going to keep things simple today and leave you with two things: the video of my most recent deathless run and a screenshot of the seed I've been playing on (for anyone that may want to play through the same SMBF levels that are featured in my runs). Super Meat Boy Forever - The Clinic Dark World Deathless Seed Input (this is the seed that all of my deathless runs have been played on) What's next? I'm sorry everyone, but I need to take an extended break. I hope I'll be back soon, but, in case I'm gone for longer, I want to thank you all so much for playing along with my nonsense over these past few months. You've all been so kind and supportive and I can't help but feel that I'm letting some of you down by stepping away for awhile. I wish I had the motivation to continue, but even these few short paragraphs took days of me stressing over what to say (and settling for...well, this). When I started this thread back in December, I was just some masochistic weirdo with something to prove. Now, while I'm still the same masochistic weirdo, I feel like I'm a part of the PSNP community. I feel accepted. I feel validated. Thank you! ? I'll be locking the thread until I have the motivation to continue, but hopefully that happens soon! ? In the meantime, I'll be continuing SMB Forever on my own while I focus on other games. There are a couple games I've had my eye on that I may try to write an "all-in-one" update for while I'm away (kinda like what I did with VVVVVV), but we'll have to wait and see what happens. Thanks again everyone. Bye for now! Edited October 24, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ExistentialSolid Posted September 14, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 14, 2021 (edited) Racing Away from my Problems ? Hey everyone, it's been a little while, but I'm back from break and ready to get destroyed some more! What I'd like to do first is catch you all up on why I've been gone, what I've been doing, and what you all can expect from this thread going forward. If you're still hanging around even after I abandoned ship for the past few months, thank you so much for being patient with me. If you're new to the thread and are just poking around to see what's up, welcome! These next few weeks are going to be messy, but, if you've got time to burn, we're going to be spending the next few months diving into a new game and cleaning up some unfinished business.What's the story behind your break? ?️ Back when I was playing the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth in April, I realized I had sunken into a creative rut. My updates were getting samey, my format was getting stale, and I was rarely satisfied with anything I put to paper. My frustration was building and I didn't feel much of a drive to write about anything at all, let alone discuss games that were destroying me. So, I had an idea. What if I switched games? Surely something new and exciting could rejuvenate the thread and reignite my passion for getting destroyed... right? Well, shortly after diving into Super Meat Boy Forever, the hot new challenging game on the block, I started to feel even worse about my updates. I would often stay up all night staring at an empty page, struggling to make the mundane sound exciting, but I couldn't produce anything I was satisfied with. As more people started checking in on the thread, I became more self-conscious and overwhelmed at the prospect of entertaining so many people with content that I wasn't happy with. After going back and forth for weeks, I decided shortly after writing my second SMBF update that I couldn't keep this up and that I needed time to think things over. So, after hastily shoving out my 3rd SMBF update, I locked the thread for nearly 4 months to get a clean break from it all. Did SMBF have anything to do with you stepping away for awhile? ? Sort of, but it may not be what some of you had in mind. One prevailing idea (*cough* thanks @Arcesius ?) is that I may have been "destroyed" by Super Meat Boy Forever, as per the goal of my thread. Now, as fun and dramatic as that sounds, I would have been more than happy to document myself getting destroyed if it were actually happening. The boring reality is that I wanted to save the rest of the game for when I had my creative energy back in tow and could confidently present the updates that the game, and those of you that take the time to read this thread, deserve. But that day never came. I played SMBF for about a week in late July to see if I could find something, anything, worth writing about and ended up finishing the deathless runs for the 3rd Dark World and 0XDEADBEEF (the closest we're going to get to Cotton Alley from the original SMB). Sadly, I didn't see anything that really inspired me to reopen the thread, so I decided to leave the updates for another day. I did find a cool skip in 0XDEADBEEF I guess? Though I'd imagine that speedrunners found this ages ago and I just happened to stumble across it by chance. My deathless runs are linked below for anyone still invested.Dark Tetanusville: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S60iYwgWjco0XDEADBEEF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIdgtnxUky8 For those of you that really wanted to see the rest of this game played out, I would highly encourage you to check out @Joe Dubz since he's playing through it right now and he's been brimming with the enthusiasm that I lost touch with. I plan to return to the game later this year to clean up the last two dark worlds and provide a more fleshed out update for the two deathless runs above. What have you been doing while you were away? ?️ Since my break, I've been generally absent from the forums, but I've enjoyed participating in the Ultra Rare Cleanup Event on the side while I figure out what to do next. Checking out games on the event's "Most Wanted" list has been a great way to pass the time and get destroyed in the process. I started Cloudberry Kingdom (yes, another tough-as-nails platformer) shortly after locking my thread in the hopes that I'd finally get the gut-punch I've been craving. I dug my dust-filled PS3 out of the closet and played it almost nonstop for three weeks. The difficulty of levels 319 and 320 in the game's story mode bordered on absurdity (level 319 took me 35 hours alone and level 320 took another 25 hours). I was a mess afterwards, but I didn't care; I was just thrilled to find something that could tear me apart. (Note: Gif quality is poor because this was from my successful level 319 run that was filmed on a phone.) I've been wanting to write an "all-in-one" update for the game, similar to my VVVVVV update awhile back, but, still in my creative slump, I couldn't find the motivation to sit down and actually write the thing. Months have passed since then, but, with the thread up and running again, I'm hoping to get the update out sometime soon. As I was looking for something new to sink my teeth into, I had a talk with @Don_carlito94, talented racing aficionado and all-around great person. It was through that very conversation that my sights were set on a game that may finally destroy me... Assetto Corsa.What's next for the thread? ?️ For the next few weeks, I'm going to be attempting to earn the platinum in Assetto Corsa, one of the most difficult racing sims on console. Specifically, I'd like to cover the game's special events, a series of nightmarish races, hotlaps, drifts, and time attacks. As someone that doesn't have a steering wheel or a license to drive in real life, I'm expecting to get absolutely annihilated. ? Full disclosure before we dive in: I've already put 120+ hours into the game. I'll explain why my decision to write about the game was made so late in my next update which should be posted in the next few days! In the meantime, I'm going to present my plan of action for the rest of 2021.Assetto Corsa Update Goals: [A.] Introduce Assetto Corsa and provide a Career Mode/Special Events recap. [B.] Recap the Race special events in detail (will be a multi-part update in conjunction with goal [C]). [C.] Create a video playlist of "easy" strategies for all 29 race events. [D.] Introduce the Hotlap events and begin documenting my descent into the hardest part of the game.Broader Checklist Goals: [1.] Earn the Assetto Corsa platinum or document my failings until I reach my breaking point. [2.] Write the Cloudberry Kingdom "All-in-one" update. [3.] Cleanup Super Meat Boy Forever (1-2 updates). [4.] Cleanup The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (1-2 updates). [5.] Special Announcement + Start of the next poll (12/19/2021)Important Note ? I know it must be frustrating to watch me jump from game to game like this. With two unfinished games lurking in the background and the community-driven "challenge" nowhere in sight (we haven't had a poll since what, March?), this thread has become little more than a stage for some trophy-obsessed lunatic to rave about his masochistic tendencies. I'm going to be totally transparent with you all for a minute. Part of what makes this thread fun for me is the feeling of uncertainty. Wondering about whether or not I'm capable of finishing a game is what keeps me invested. Venturing into the unknown is what I love about challenging games. Now, this will sound either arrogant or completely baseless (as I do not have the platinum for either game), but the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and SMBF denied me this uncertainty. From the moment I found out that save-scumming could trivialize the challenge in Rebirth, I started losing interest. From the moment I discovered that SMBF's dark worlds do not get progressively more difficult (rather, they introduce new gimmicks while maintaining the same general level of difficulty), I couldn't be bothered to continue. As soon as victory becomes an inevitability, it starts to lose meaning. In an effort to chase this all-too-fleeting feeling of uncertainty, I knew I needed to play something that is completely outside of my area of expertise. Assetto Corsa fit the bill perfectly, and, after 120+ hours of play, I'm confident that this is going to be the most difficult challenge I've faced yet. I'm sorry this update has dragged on for so long. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and, as always, thank you all for sticking with me! ? Edited September 14, 2021 by ExistentialSolid 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eqill5 Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 Hey dude, I was really glad to see this thread pop up in again in recent posts! I was recently wondering if you’d ever re-open it. It sounds like you truly needed that break away and seems like you’ve come back fresh and reignited. I hope you enjoy yourself going forward, and good luck with Assetto Corsa! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destructor-8 Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 22 minutes ago, ExistentialSolid said: As I was looking for something new to sink my teeth into, I had a talk with @Don_carlito94, talented racing aficionado and all-around great person. It was through that very conversation that my sights were set on a game that may finally destroy me... Assetto Corsa. In an effort to chase this all-too-fleeting feeling of uncertainty, I knew I needed to play something that is completely outside of my area of expertise. Assetto Corsa fit the bill perfectly, and, after 120+ hours of play, I'm confident that this is going to be the most difficult challenge I've faced yet. I'm sorry this update has dragged on for so long. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and, as always, thank you all for sticking with me! I'm so glad you are back dude! You have been one of the biggest inspirations for me on these forums & it's nice to generally see you back ready for more. I wish you the best of luck with Assetto man! I've seen you have got quite far with it recently & have reached the infamous part of the game. I'm going to be really interested in your updates for Assetto since it is an extremely challenging game that can push players to the absolute limit. The one thing I'm more happy with though is your general presence on these forums again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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