A2XT: It's Over

[Voltgloss]

Given the apparent possibility that any update can break a player's overworld progress - even those that don't change the overworld - It may be best for raocow to avoid downloading any patches other than a replacement for the one music track that now triggers ContentID.

[SAJewers]

If My understanding of SMBX's Overworld is correct, nothing that touches the .wld file should break the OW.

[docopoper]

Wat there an update to the world file since the public release at all? Since if Joseph did the whole thing before raocow's LP he must have been using the original version or something earlier. I assume he used something a little earlier since I have no idea how you could complete the game in one day (since the finalised version came out right before raocow started recording his first episode).

Also - updates that don't do anything to the overworld can't affect it.

[Unaniem]

That death fake-out in Plains of Ulysses Mad is the best thing ever

[jayScribble]

Water is plentiful now, but the land teases like mirages looking like water in the desert.

"Plains of Ulysses Mad" is such a tease in both generous places and trick places in the level. The level overall is easy going and fair, but that's not what the level is remembered for.

A little subtle, but the clue at that fake-out death is that there is no character popping back out before falling back down (which might be impossible to exact the character the player might be playing in that level).

"Floating Falls" is oddly tropical and hilly compared to it's neighbors, but enough about the theme: besides some crushing potential with moving layers, the level seems to be fair in terms of it's difficulty, but the secret exit may have some accidental self-harm with all that shell kicking inside a cramped cave.

[Maiku Wotaharu]

That death fake-out in Plains of Ulysses Mad is the best thing ever

Just wait until you get to

Mikkofier's level in World 8. I've never laughed so hard!

[tigermoon]

In today's episode, raocow gets T. Roll'd on the Beach Episode Planet by Ulysses Mad. Also a random Kood appearance. Hooray!

[Bryux]

Floating Falls had a Kingdom Hearts song, I thought all Kingdom Hearts themes were copyrighted? You know, since they were made by Square Enix, I heard they were quite picky with their copyright.

[Willhart]

All this water is kind of the reason why the planet is called a beach episode planet. There were some unfortunate physics related deaths there. Good thing it did not happen too much.

There will be some unlocks after world 3, so those will take some time too.

[Validon98]

World 3 everyone!

Plains of Ulysses Mad made me chuckle with the whole thing, but one thing raocow did that I never checked out was that fake-out death. Now that was funny. Also for all of those who are going "well trying to make a fake-out death animation would be hard because you can't predict who's going to be used," I think you can read the player character from memory using LunaDLL, and then use that to trigger an event based off of who it is. It'd definitely work I think. ^^;
Anyways, Floating Falls shows everyone why slightly moving layers can equal really stupid deaths thanks to hit detection. Ah well, the level wasn't too bad, and Totoro!Big Boo made me smile.

[sedron]

We're close to wrapping up World 3, so let's look at a few more levels.

Plains of Ulysses Mad- I don't particularly care for the referenced memes myself, but this level was good for a few laughs. It's pretty easy, though I definitely enjoy the fake-outs more than the sudden deaths. There's honestly not much more to this one beyond that. It does what it wants to pretty well.

Floating Falls- In my opinion, this level would have been better if it had stuck with stuff like the first room for the duration. The aesthetic was better there due to the music choice and slight graphical differences (the first room does the whole "floating landmasses," thing better.) SMBX is very, very mean about moving parts, and will almost always screw the player if they're kind of close to death. When designing a level it's important to minimize those risks, which this level does not do. It's made worse by the tileset. The bottoms of the landmasses are still solid squares, even if they don't look like it. TotoroBoo is great, but the secret exit is kind of unfair otherwise. It's more or less unmarked. I actually had to open up the editor to find it. Not the most fun, unfortunately.

[Voltgloss]

The next town is one of my favorites. The atmosphere is incredible and the emphasis is on platforming exploration rather than text. Even those who didn't like the first two towns should consider watching raocow explore this one.

[sedron]

The secret exit was marked by two coins that you could see when you were on the 6th landmass.

Hence "more or less."

It also helps to look at the land layout. Those coins are only visible from one platform out of the corner of your eye. The level obviously wants you to focus elsewhere. In addition, the platform they are visible from has nothing on it. Players aren't going to stay there for long. In all likelihood, a player will quickly jump to the next platform to hit the blocks, as those may have something interesting in them. They may also reach the platform quickly dodging the Goopa, thus having enough momentum built to quickly make the next jump.

The level design could have been changed to make it feel more fair and interesting. The coins could be moved slightly, a different marker could be used, the platform could be made differently, so on and so forth. As it stands though I really don't think that the marking for that exit is sufficient, nor does it lead to satisfying gameplay.

Edit: I keep meaning to bring this up. Is it just me or does Demo have some masking issues? Her sprites look odd at times, especially during jumps.

[Voltgloss]

I dunno. I saw the coins leading to the secret exit in Floating Falls the very first time I played, and wasn't even looking for secrets at that time. Not sure why my experience was so different from sedron's and raocow's.

[Telamon]

Oh man, I spent the whole level wondering what the heck 'Ulysses Mad' meant, assuming it was some classical reference I didn't get. Was I forgetting part of the Odyssey or something?

Then raocow got to the end. U. Mad.

...

...

I lost my shit. What an epic trolling. Bravo.

Also, Big Boo Totoro was adorable.

[Voltgloss]

I keep meaning to bring this up. Is it just me or does Demo have some masking issues? Her sprites look odd at times, especially during jumps.

This, I agree with. I think it's more pronounced with Fire Demo.

Just a quick question for Sedron and you were you playing on full screen or on windowed mode?

Windowed mode. I always play in windowed mode while testing so I can easily mouse over to a text doc to make notes.

[Septentrion Pleiades]

I just discovered that I've review Sandy Sands in it's own video. It had a sort of cool secret in the first version but it was never executed well enough to be included. It was pretty interesting from the beginning.

http://youtu.be/0F-o_cJU_CE

[Joseph Staleknight]

Wat there an update to the world file since the public release at all? Since if Joseph did the whole thing before raocow's LP he must have been using the original version or something earlier. I assume he used something a little earlier since I have no idea how you could complete the game in one day (since the finalised version came out right before raocow started recording his first episode).

Yeah, I used the old release candidate, then transferred my complete save to the public release so that I wouldn't break the flow of my play-along in another save. Now that I think about it, unless I find something horribly wrong when playing through the final level of World 3 (or reaching the spot where the Hub glitched out in that screenshot), I probably shouldn't worry too much at the moment. Still, that was quite a sudden, weird bug to find.

Anyway, the western suddenly becomes a comedy akin to Jackass, then a fantasy.

Plains of Ulysses Mad (Dragondraikk): Well hello there, gag level. How are you doing?

In my playthrough, I deliberately checked out every instance of trolling possible just to see how well I remembered them from the very first time I played during betatesting. However, there were a few spots where I wish I didn't die/get hurt for playing along with the joke. For example, just after the first leek fake-out there were falling landmasses that didn't have any safety nets; once I touched them I simply fell to my death. Meanwhile, late in the ghost house I actually found an additional kaizo trap where, if you hit one of the dual question blocks on the pipe-shaped pillars, Thwomps come out of nowhere to mash your face in. I feel those spots were unnecessarily cruel in an otherwise funny place.

Art thou frustrated? (SAJewers): The only logical conclusion to the last level's hilarity. Bonus points for that ASCII-esque troll face.

Floating Falls (Tayeu): As raocow demonstrated, there were a few technical issues with moving platforms and whatnot, but otherwise this level is very neat and lofty. I enjoyed jumping through the floaty lands, dodging the Goopas and generally having fun in the falls. Granted, I had to cheat because of some bad lag, but it was a good level otherwise. Of course, I also used to have problems finding the secret exit in betatesting, but once I found the coins at the lower right it became all too obvious to miss.

Speaking of the secret exit, there's that one particular area raocow would've gotten to if he observed the area below it more closely. For those who also missed it, it's the one before the slide with all the skulls; therein lies a vine inside a block.

E: Also, yet another one-level author!

Looking forward to seeing raocow beat World 3 tomorrow! I wonder how he'll handle his own level? I'm expecting it to be an awesome, straightforward run.

[SAJewers]

I keep meaning to bring this up. Is it just me or does Demo have some masking issues? Her sprites look odd at times, especially during jumps.

This, I agree with. I think it's more pronounced with Fire Demo.

Are we talking about this? viewtopic.php?p=180475#p180475

[Doctor Shemp]

For what it's worth, I saw the secret exit in Floating Falls immediately when testing it. raocow has an odd tendency to notice extremely obscure things and then remain oblivious to the obvious.

Plains of Ulysses Mad reminded me in some parts of "the hardest lvl" from ASMT, which was one of my favourite levels from that game, so I liked their thematic return in this level.

Art thou frustrated? is a more effective title if you don't know that you can bypass the long walk there due to SMBX's path system being "if they're adjacent, they're connected". If you actually take the long walk all the way around the LOL-path to get there, and then have to take the long walk back, you just might be frustrated.

[Voltgloss]

I keep meaning to bring this up. Is it just me or does Demo have some masking issues? Her sprites look odd at times, especially during jumps.

This, I agree with. I think it's more pronounced with Fire Demo.

Are we talking about this? viewtopic.php?p=180475#p180475

I am, yes. Check Fire Demo's sprite. I think some of what folks described as "dark blue" in Demo's regular sprite actually IS black.

[sedron]

Just a quick question for Sedron and you were you playing on full screen or on windowed mode?

Man, it's been a while since I played this one. I believe I was full screen (and I watched raocow in full screen, where I couldn't remember where the exit was nor guess it until he stumbled on it.)

Are we talking about this? viewtopic.php?p=180475#p180475

Yup!

[docopoper]

I played it fullscreen and noticed it immediately. In fact I even did it before progressing with the main exit.

[Kil]

World 3 everyone!

Plains of Ulysses Mad made me chuckle with the whole thing, but one thing raocow did that I never checked out was that fake-out death. Now that was funny. Also for all of those who are going "well trying to make a fake-out death animation would be hard because you can't predict who's going to be used," I think you can read the player character from memory using LunaDLL, and then use that to trigger an event based off of who it is. It'd definitely work I think. ^^;
Anyways, Floating Falls shows everyone why slightly moving layers can equal really stupid deaths thanks to hit detection. Ah well, the level wasn't too bad, and Totoro!Big Boo made me smile.

You can actually cancel a death in the middle of the death animation with lunadll so it's even easier.

[Leet]

I don't actually remember World 3's town at all.

I have a feeling I skipped it or something.