JUMP - Let's meet again at JUMP½

[Validon98]

It's still way easier then "What the Hell" too, raocow you hypocrite.

hey hey how many times must I express regrets, man

I think after the first 20 times it gets redundant. Says the guy who also apologized profusely for a thing he made. :V

Quote from Jolpe from a year ago:

Pleeaaaase dont touch Depraved Stronghold, if you really want it easier I'll make it easier, but dont put stupid multimidpoints in that, that would destroy the level's purpose

This makes me wonder why a midpoint was included at all. <_<

Given the level's length, if there wasn't a midpoint, the amount of stuff you need to go in one straight shot goes from "unreasonable" to "unforgivable". This is why I said "this level should have been two levels". It really should have, the midpoint feels more like a goalpost for what was already a pretty harsh stretch.

'Jolly Upsetting Moving Podoboos' would've been better, as a title

Just Upset Maybe Possibly?

[Le Neveu de Rameau]

It's still way easier then "What the Hell" too, raocow you hypocrite.

hey hey how many times must I express regrets, man

Next A-side: What the Hell, no savestates.

[Lostsoldier20]

I get that raocow probably just got through it with little issue, but what's wrong with the Magikoopa? That room seems a lot easier than what some Magikoopa obstacles have expected of the player in hacks past. The point that different people have different issues with different mechanics others do not have issues with might be true... But that room seemed way easier than the rest of the stage. There's plenty of opportunities to even kill it off before a difficult jump. When I saw it suggested that that is what broke him, I expected much worse.

The Podoboo jump thing though, I can agree whole heartedly there. I watched the Podoboo once raocow mentioned how random they are. This is something I never noticed even after all these years, but it quite clear when you take a close look. The variance is small, but it is big enough to be an unavoidable margin of error. Jolpe having a reason behind the marathon is one thing, and I can see why he'd do that, but it needs to be fair throughout. Seeing that, a Podoboo jump isn't completely fair given the circumstances.

I dunno, it's a mixed bag. I don't completely disagree with the level. It's just that one Podoboo. For the level of skill the entire hack has expected, this isn't too far a stretch. That the postgame up until Depraved Stronghold (and Monument too I guess) is a bunch easier is just an unfortunate side-effect of it being based on Dragon Coin requirements or whatever. A marathon at this stage of the game, DS seems as hard as it really should be.

[Arctangent]

Yeah, that level really could've used being split into two halves. Not even for length or difficulty - it's just that the first half clearly has a theme of utilizing only a handful of sprites, and the two halves of the second half don't even really seem to share anything.

Hell, I could really see the second half actually working as a marathon level with no midpoint. Maybe even the first, although I'd definitely still do a custom podoboo if you really wanted to make the podoboo jumps unskippable.

[cozyduck]

Yeah, I also feel like the second half is easier, although I could see some people having trouble with the magikoopa.

I also think that raocow should be capable of getting through Shattered Dreams savestateless, especially since he gets to choose between multiple paths, so if he really wanted to have a savestateless run including special world I would advise him to take a look at Isocitrations video on how to cheese the podoboo jump in case he hasn't yet.

[Fapnoob]

so is bowser head the final level?

[cozyduck]

so is bowser head the final level?

.
There are 2 more levels unlocked afterwards which are considered bonus levels. I guess they were deemed too technical / Kaizo for the main game, although personally I wouldn't say the first of them is any harder then Pixel Perfect.
Having said that, Shattered Dreams should take at least 4 videos, and who knows if raocow will just savescumm through the second bonus level of if he will attempt it legit, in which case I expect 3 videos for it. At any rate, we still have some LP left.

[Ryrir]

awesome he had some amount of fun today
let's all guilttrip raocow into beating it legit now

Joking aside, I agree that the second half is somewhat more lenient than the first. I think the really annoyance here is the magikoopa, which can sometimes spawn inside of you or right next to you, or even exactly where you wanted to jump. The best strategy would probably be to kill him when you have the chance, make your way past the next few obstacles and then wait for him at a convenient location to respawn in order to kill him again. Of course that method is a lot more time intensive instead of rushing forward, so if you get frustrated you're prone to make a lot more mistakes in this section.
The autsocrolling part is legit pretty well designed though, and probably my favorite part of the level.

Next time, the real final level! It's like Bowser's Castle except literately every room has a weird ASM gimmick going and all of them are a lot harder. The structure is a lot clearer as well, basically it's four times a choice of three rooms with a checkpoint between each choice.
It's a lot of fun to play through, and I'm looking forward to raocow's reactions to some of the rooms.

[cozyduck]

Also, raocow, unlike Bowser's castle the boss of shattered dreams really needs its own video, and it's also quite difficult, so I would recommend playing it in a fresh session.

[Willhart]

I'm looking forward to the final level. I hear it is awesome.

[Voltgloss]

...so if he really wanted to have a savestateless run including special world I would advise him to take a look at Isocitrations video on how to cheese the podoboo jump in case he hasn't yet.

Wow. So the jump can be made without even having to touch the podoboo.

Between the coin trail suggesting a podoboo jump is necessary, and raocow's observation that the game really punishes you for experimentation at that jump, I wonder how a player is expected to figure that out without using savestates.

Perhaps a better approach - without removing any of the level's content or adding extra midpoints - would have been to have that exact same "podoboo jump" setup at the <I>beginning</I> of the level, so the player has an opportunity to practice it and experiment with it (and perhaps thereby learning the trick to it - or, at the very least, getting comfortable with the podoboo's timing) before having to do it again towards the end of the gauntlet. And also maybe remove the misleading coin trail.

[cozyduck]

...so if he really wanted to have a savestateless run including special world I would advise him to take a look at Isocitrations video on how to cheese the podoboo jump in case he hasn't yet.

Wow. So the jump can be made without even having to touch the podoboo.

Between the coin trail suggesting a podoboo jump is necessary, and raocow's observation that the game really punishes you for experimentation at that jump, I wonder how a player is expected to figure that out without using savestates.

I don't think the player is supposed to figure it out at all because it seems more likely to be an oversight on Jolpes part.

Perhaps a better approach - without removing any of the level's content or adding extra midpoints - would have been to have that exact same "podoboo jump" setup at the <I>beginning</I> of the level, so the player has an opportunity to practice it and experiment with it (and perhaps thereby learning the trick to it - or, at the very least, getting comfortable with the podoboo's timing) before having to do it again towards the end of the gauntlet.

I don't like the podoboo jump existing in that situation at all, but if one must have it, I agree that this approach is preferable. Incidentally, the level kinda does exactly that, but having the switches pressed allows the player to bypass all podoboo jumps in the first section.

[Le Neveu de Rameau]

Maaaan, why'd they have to go and have Cooper's head rise out of the ocean for the last level, spoiling the lovely scenery? The moonlight reflecting off the waves was the coolest thing ever.

[Validon98]

Still gonna stick to what I said yesterday about this level needing to be two levels. I hadn't said it at the time, but I realized not long after that yeah, the first and second half don't even mesh. It really is just two levels stuck onto each other with a midpoint as the line of demarcation as to where one ends and the other begins. It's kinda sad, but oh well. Still giving Jolpe the benefit of the doubt about the difficulty of the level, still not giving him any leniency when it comes to that podoboo jump, but that's all I've to say.

Next time... not-quite-AREA 42, huh? (I know I'm using VIP 5 comparisons here but really, I kinda think of JUMP as being VIP 5 as-made-by-the-Talkhaus, with a bit of the earlier VIPs thrown in every so often.)

[raekuul]

Perhaps a better approach [...] would have been to have that exact same "podoboo jump" setup at the beginning of the level, so the player has an opportunity to practice it and experiment with it (and perhaps thereby learning the trick to it - or, at the very least, getting comfortable with the podoboo's timing) before having to do it again towards the end of the gauntlet.

The irony here is that without the red and blue switch palaces, you get exactly this.

If you ask me, That One Podobo Jump should have been either right at the start of the level (to reduce how badly it punishes), or the last majorly challenging obstacle before the midpoint (to keep the rest of the section before the midpoint from being a post-climax deathtrap). Which to be fair, it's close to the midpoint; it's just you have the climactic Forced Podobo Jump, followed by an equally climactic Thwomp Racing Tunnel. Double climaxes, yo. They're painful and leave you sore.

[Jolpengammler]

lol @ da title

[lolyoshi]

lol @ da title

Just for you, buddy.

[alleightbits]

things to get pretty darn gosh difficult, second half: Well that certainly was different. It does look like this should've been two different levels.

[Neo7]

You can redeem yourself with a longplay of the level raocow! I believe in you! It's only one level!

[Zach808]

You can redeem yourself with a longplay of the level raocow! I believe in you! It's only one level!

Nah. Make Jolpe do that as punishment for that podobo jump.

[Grounder]

In this episode of Scream at raocow, "DOUBLE BACK!"

[lolyoshi]

Have you caught on that you can see what's under you (blind jumps) by looking at the top of the screen?

[FrozenQuills]

I'm pretty sure raocow caught onto the fact that the top of the screen shows the bottom.
Also yay it's my maglx2 gimmick again, except way more interesting.

[Sniggerb0bble]

Phew, finally caught up again, it's good to have returned back to the present.

It's a small thing, but I've got a lot of respect for the fact that the music continues even when you die in this level, little touches like that go a long way to help establish an atmosphere and that really stood out to me as a result.

I enjoyed today's adventure in cylinder-land, looked very interesting and well-constructed, looking forward to whatever last treats are in store.

[alleightbits]

Well, that was something.