A2XT: It's Over

[Mata Hari]

Alright I'm back from my self-imposed exile to ask the important questions

1. What is a 'bullet-onyx', I forget which level that phrase was used in but I still don't understand
2. How are Demo and Iris's personalities supposed to differ? It didn't come across in the cutscenes, but I don't think either of them had enough lines to sell it anyway. I always thought (~~headcanon~~) they would have a similar dynamic to their freakish bicycloptic counterparts, with the shorter one more outgoing and the taller more retiring, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
3. This isn't really a question but Grand Trunk Arena uses my old shitty Shaman sprite instead of the fancy HD one for some reason.
4. Who let the Archwings into the game?

[Willhart]

Alright I'm back from my self-imposed exile to ask the important questions

1. What is a 'bullet-onyx', I forget which level that phrase was used in but I still don't understand
2. How are Demo and Iris's personalities supposed to differ? It didn't come across in the cutscenes, but I don't think either of them had enough lines to sell it anyway. I always thought (~~headcanon~~) they would have a similar dynamic to their freakish bicycloptic counterparts, with the shorter one more outgoing and the taller more retiring, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
3. This isn't really a question but Grand Trunk Arena uses my old shitty Shaman sprite instead of the fancy HD one for some reason.
4. Who let the Archwings into the game?

1. It's 4 bullet bills in a row. It might be a joke from the level author or just a pokemon reference.
2. Demons are a bit strange usually, but I kinda consider Iris to be a older of the two. Both like action and cyclops in general have a really poor attention spam, as was established on raocow's library level from asmbxt. I wonder, if being mindcontrolled for a long time has affected them negatively in some way.
3. Maybe the level author liked it more, or the level was made before that graphic was changed.
4. The author of the world 7 town.

[ano0maly]

Had A2MT been finished

Anyway, since the Artist is pushed back to at least episode 2, it looks like the character isn't decided yet, or at least is meant to be not apparent yet from playing episode 1.

I personally think it would be better if the Artist is an original character, just like the siblings, instead of being based on someone.

I didn't mention this in my previous posts, but after a few days and a couple of drinks worth of thinking, I've realized that I actually really enjoy the idea behind the siblings. I like the fact that new characters were created (ages ago, but this is their first real appearance) and that they were given real recurring roles throughout the game. It really clicked how underutilized they really were throughout A2XT, and how much potential they had to grow and develop as characters. That being said, I would actually love to see either a) a pure Indie game surrounding them outside of the realm of a pre-made engine like SMBX, or b) some sort of story/comic involving them.

Just my two cents.

IMO the game would start to focus on the siblings too much if they showed up too often. This is only the first part of A2XT anyway, so this seemed to be a good enough for an introduction, with room for more usage in the next part.

[Ometeotl]

Was there something in A2MT's planned plot that I didn't know? Because the A2MT team (well, Alex) never made graphics for The Artist, so he never actually had a design.

Besides Nitori

The artist isn't Nitori, that would be stupid.

The Artist is Nitori in canon. I made it so and raocow approved of it. Had A2MT been finished, Nitori would've been the boss.

Think of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Just because it's "canon", does not mean that people are going to respect the idea or care about it.

[Mata Hari]

Actually, I'm the Artist.

[raocow]

in a2mt it would have been nitori, but in asm3 it would have been revealed not to be nitori, but a spider egg sack shaped like nitori. And then it bursts open. Into thousands upon thousands of tiny spiders.

[Demolition]

A2MT is non-canon,

we've have decided who the artist is going to be and it's someone who actually makes sense.

Why is alex back on the talkhaus? I thought he was banned.

[Crow]

That got nerfed a bit much. I don't think it was that hard to begin with.

Yeah, it was perfectly fine before.

Speaking of. The Floor Is Lava! A really good level. Or was. The vines are all unnecessary. They didn't used to be there and the level was fine without them. Sure, there's the one hard jump right after the midpoint. But, reminder: Right after the midpoint. Easy to retry. Totally fine. And raocow played the level kind of dumb, it's easy to practice the sections of the level after when you screw up and severely reduce your demo count as a result. Though he still seemed to get through everything relatively easily honestly.

[Septentrion Pleiades]

2. How are Demo and Iris's personalities supposed to differ? It didn't come across in the cutscenes, but I don't think either of them had enough lines to sell it anyway. I always thought (~~headcanon~~) they would have a similar dynamic to their freakish bicycloptic counterparts, with the shorter one more outgoing and the taller more retiring, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I think Iris came across as the smarter one and Demo has a one track mind. Still, the "Green Demo" joke in the credits still applies for this episode.

I've seen drafts for episode 2 and they all involve developing personality for Iris and making the sisters have more complex interactions. I won't spoil it, even with spoiler tags.

[sedron]

I'm sorry but I find it incredibly hard for me to even feel sorry for Demo after the way she treated Kood and Phily when he was trying to explain some important things. What happened to her after the final boss served her right for treating them like ****. It's like the old saying goes "Karma is a *****". I mean I might have felt more sympathetic for her if she had at least either shown some more patience or simply asked for an abridged explanation instead. Right now because of all of that, I currently despise Demo and I hope A3SMBXT will have her redeeming herself and actually growing as an individual rather than remaining stuck as a ice queen. Seriously, her heart needs to grow three sizes before I can even begin to forgive her for the impatient **** she pull on both of them, especially after she walked out on her sister Phily and after she belittled Kood.

... she didn't listen to exposition so she deserved to die/whatever happened?

Um, okay. I think that's absolutely ridiculous and you need to get a sense of humor. Also it's "Pily."

The Artist is Nitori in canon. I made it so and raocow approved of it. Had A2MT been finished, Nitori would've been the boss.

Since A2MT was rendered non-canon by literally not being a complete game, I think it's safe for the ASMBXT dev team to decide what they want to do with that plot point. I don't really get why you (assuming you are the same alex here,) chose Nitori for any reason other than her appeal to you, anyway. Story-wise it doesn't really make any sense and it's honestly more interesting for the Artist to be their own person and not from another series. Just like how A2MT made an honest attempt to step away from being Mario-centric, I think it's right for this series to step away from straight-up using Mario and Touhou characters.

Anyway, on to level stuff.

This is the point in the game where I kind of stopped trying. As such I have less hands-on experience with the levels, so I'll have to go play a lot of them for reals as I talk about them.

Level thoughts in spoilers because reasons.

The Floor Is Lava!- This secret exit is why I stopped trying to play through the game legit. It was just too much for me and I was impatient. It does look a good deal easier now, but unlike some other posters I don't think the nerf was too extreme. It is the first level of the postgame, to be fair. An entire half of the world is blocked by that secret exit, and you kind of want players to be able to get there. That said, It probably would have been better as a one-exit level. The gimmick is imaginative, but the normal exit is not really post-game material at all. The gimmick could just be explained from the get-go and the penalty for failing could be instant death (liberal use of layers and lava make this really easy to accomplish.) All of that said, the zany atmosphere created by the music is pretty great, and the level design is top-notch. While I don't exactly agree with every design decision made here, I think this level deserves its place in the postgame both on grounds of quality and difficulty.

[KobaBeach]

The Artist is

Leomon

He is tired of constantly getting killed off so he's taking his frustrations in another universe with his cyclops army
Also he humansuits as Nitori on occasion

If Alex can shove his waifu in the lore, I can shove my husbando in it too

[Tenlade]

2. How are Demo and Iris's personalities supposed to differ? It didn't come across in the cutscenes, but I don't think either of them had enough lines to sell it anyway. I always thought (~~headcanon~~) they would have a similar dynamic to their freakish bicycloptic counterparts, with the shorter one more outgoing and the taller more retiring, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

If you went by the cutscenes in this , Demo seems a bit nicer and polite while Iris is just sarcastic and blunt (and by cutscenes I mean where kood tries to exposition, which is the only time they ever really get a scene to show some personality)

also making the main villain a touhou is dumb, don't make them a touhou.

[Isrieri]

The vines are all unnecessary. They didn't used to be there and the level was fine without them. Sure, there's the one hard jump right after the midpoint. But, reminder: Right after the midpoint. Easy to retry. Totally fine.

I'd like to put forth that the vines were still a wonderful idea and super appreciated. Just because a thing can be beaten does not mean you shouldn't make it easier. (even postgame stuff)

Also it is wonderfully built. Every block has a purpose. I love levels like that.

[Crow]

The gimmick could just be explained from the get-go and the penalty for failing could be instant death (liberal use of layers and lava make this really easy to accomplish.)

No, see, the fact that failing /isn't/ instant death is what makes the challenge good. This would be the hardest level in the game if you were instant-killed for every failure and I wouldn't have played past this level at all if it were done in that insanely stupid way.

[Leet]

Demo being direct and straight to the point is exactly why I love her... in ASMT I adored the ending in which she completely ignored both King Charles and Con, because she honestly didn't care about the mushroom kingdom at all and was entirely focused on her mission. It's not out of being rude or having something against the people around her (she obviously does care about Iris at the very least) (probably), she just prioritizes her current goals to ridiculously high levels. This is why she's the best. The best

(also lol @ people taking the 'artist is nitori' thing seriously) (i mean what its totally serious)

[Jesuiscontent]

Why is alex back on the talkhaus?

Because you guys keep giving him attention

[Bwarch]

Why is alex back on the talkhaus? I thought he was banned.

Well you know it was one of those self-asked-for bans so it's not like the mods did it on their own decision, lol.

Welcome back Alex, this is kind of amuuuusing.

[docopoper]

The vines are all unnecessary. They didn't used to be there and the level was fine without them. Sure, there's the one hard jump right after the midpoint. But, reminder: Right after the midpoint. Easy to retry. Totally fine.

I'd like to put forth that the vines were still a wonderful idea and super appreciated. Just because a thing can be beaten does not mean you shouldn't make it easier. (even postgame stuff)

Also it is wonderfully built. Every block has a purpose. I love levels like that.

Thank you. :) Your level felt like one of the best designed difficulties to me so I'll take that as a nice big compliment. ^^ As far as people complaining about the level being nerfed (which it wasn't really). That's a very common complaint to get when you change a challenge people are using as an accolade for having overcome. I have made numerous changes to my levels and this game in general that make it easier because I'm removing fake difficulty (which is why the final boss ended up kind of easy since it was originally 90%% fake difficulty due to the hitboxes).

I bet you guys wouldn't have complained if I'd made this change before the release.
The wonders of player behaviour! :D

[Septentrion Pleiades]

Calling everything fake difficulty is way we can't have real difficulty.

[docopoper]

We did have real difficulty. This is actually still quite a hard game.

[TheVulpineHero1]

Calling everything fake difficulty is way we can't have real difficulty.

Everybody knows that real difficulty was faked by NASA. You can see the wind rustling the flag in the background. A guy called Rog, who is the once-and-future president of all cosmonauts (and also holds many other important democratically elected positions, I'm told) published a dossier on it on wikileaks.

[Tenlade]

The real difficulty mines were stripped bare years ago, we've been running on synthetic difficulty ever since.

[Crow]

yes probably, the level would have been easier to clear for me in its current state and I'd still probably consider it a decent challenge but not out of the norm of the game up to that point.

one of the reasons I liked its previous state was that it very visibly upped the ante without resorting to stupid levels of difficulty. I do appreciate the change where the key box is visible though, that's a good change. The rest, ehh, it was fine before and it's fine now but I prefer the old version

[Doctor Shemp]

On the subject of whether A2XT's difficulty curve should be more or less like ASMT's, there's a common infographic that gets shared around retro video game discussion boards when romhacks are mentioned. Here it is (spoilered for size):

SMW Hacks 1.png (704.48 KiB) Viewed 2960 times

SMW Hacks 2.png (518.39 KiB) Viewed 2960 times

Look at ASMT's position (in the second picture, incidentally along with SMWCP). Are you sure that's a good difficulty curve to replicate in an engine without states?

Also, as someone whose position was briefly "shit ideas pruner" in regards to the story, here are the ground rules:
1. No waifus
2. No husbandos
3. Extremely cool bosses from children's 3D platformers for the PlayStation are OK if you're named after them and submit the level without anyone testing it

These are simple rules that everyone can understand and follow. Besides, we've already decided on who The Artist is. It's

Bob_at_Easel.jpg (119.58 KiB) Viewed 2960 times

[Leet]

maybe get a chart that isnt made by BABIES

tbh, though, smbx seems to me like it is in general a lot easier than smw. just the engine in general. it's less rigid. i dunno. it seems inefficient to compare difficulties of games from the two engines