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Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

this is the place where lps are being talked about. it's important to talk about games being played on the internet.
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cozyduck
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Cliffside Blast

Post by cozyduck »

ft029 wrote: 6 years ago If the first half were twice as long, I would have been convinced that levelengine made it.
More like 5 to 10 times as long, just look at Colossus' endgame.

I enjoy most of levelengines levels though.

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Grounder
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by Grounder »

Shhh...

No tears, only dreams now.
Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL! :twisted:

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Paragraph
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by Paragraph »

No midpoint, huh.

This level suffers more than others from what I've seen as a clear trend by now: AxemJinx really, REALLY wants people to master an obstacle. This is why he repeats everything three (or five or seven...) times with minor, if at all, variations: It's a very starkly mechanical test to see if you can do it, then a little harder, then a little harder, then a little harder, then a little different, harder, harder, different, harder, harder. Many levels are designed like scientific experiments, and what's being researched is the player's ability. You cannot just tank this one hard part with a powerup here: you will overcome every obstacle with the power of your reflexes, muscle memory and tenacity. Rise to the Challenge indeed.

I mean, it's fascinating to watch how he fits the pieces together to create these unique, if on their own repetitive setpieces for you to grind through. But as the challenge level rises, its clinical nature becomes too apparent: it's just a series of escalating challenge loop tests - not a fun one.
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cozyduck
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by cozyduck »

Paragraph wrote: 6 years ago No midpoint, huh.

There is, but the shortcut skips it.

Paragraph wrote: 6 years ago This level suffers more than others from what I've seen as a clear trend by now: AxemJinx really, REALLY wants people to master an obstacle. This is why he repeats everything three (or five or seven...) times with minor, if at all, variations: It's a very starkly mechanical test to see if you can do it, then a little harder, then a little harder, then a little harder, then a little different, harder, harder, different, harder, harder. Many levels are designed like scientific experiments, and what's being researched is the player's ability. You cannot just tank this one hard part with a powerup here: you will overcome every obstacle with the power of your reflexes, muscle memory and tenacity. Rise to the Challenge indeed.

I mean, it's fascinating to watch how he fits the pieces together to create these unique, if on their own repetitive setpieces for you to grind through. But as the challenge level rises, its clinical nature becomes too apparent: it's just a series of escalating challenge loop tests - not a fun one.

I definitely very much agree with this analysis on his level design philosophy (except that I do think it's kinda fun). Regardless, the two hardest challenges of the game are behind us, so it should all be downhill from now on.
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raocow
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by raocow »

I like how videos in this series are either 'oh man this is hard complain complain complain' or 'here I am saying nonsense while galivanding through stuff'
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ft029
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by ft029 »

raocow really should have went through the vine portion in the first half (yes, there is a midpoint, but the shortcut skipped it...). I thought it was really fun and cool to jump around on the vines while improvising to avoid the koopas.

My least favorite part is definitely those jumps on the one-tile blocks that are guarded by munchers on the side. Most of the time I slip and fall down a lot, and it feels terrible. But the rest is pretty good in my opinion (definitely one of the more interesting and creative levels).

I got crushed in the secret exit maze way more often than raocow.
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Le Neveu de Rameau
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by Le Neveu de Rameau »

Ah, Hoarfrost Hike. Everyone's most despised level. I do believe AxemJinx once revealed a technique (which I in no way recall) for making the moving vines a touch less horrifying, but I don't think even that really alleviates the central issues with this level, as raocow's skipping the bulk of the vine portions but still having a fiasco-tastic time illustrates.

Once I introduced a friend of mine to SMW (which she had somehow managed to avoid playing as a child), and, being unfamiliar with the Marios for the most part, she had some issues mastering the ins and outs of Marinating. That is to say she got hit by enemies a lot. I mean, like, a lot. But each buffet of fortune was not met with a Zen-like indifference, no, far from it. Instead, she greeted each and every Koopanian comission of Mario-manhandling with a primal shout of "WHORE! WHOOOOOOORE!" I can only assume the name of this particular level was intended by AxemJinx to allude to the probability of a similar drive overtaking the player in their attempt to ascend through (and to) its assorted challenges. raocow's own summation of the vexatious volatility of vacillating vines early in the video suggest "Super-Garb Goof-Up" as a suitable substitute, however.
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ft029
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by ft029 »

OK Rameau's Nephew, I bow down to your pun
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by Grounder »

on the home stretch now

secret exit was dumb as always, but easy at the very least
Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL! :twisted:

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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by Grounder »


Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL! :twisted:

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ft029
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by ft029 »

I wish Passage Panic were the last level. It's well designed, a great challenge, and quite fun to go through. The only part I didn't really like was the spinjump on saws with koopa above part.

Last level is probably going to be anticlimactic, just like in 2008 or whenever.
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by raocow »

I agree one thousand percent
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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by Grounder »

raocow wrote: 6 years ago I agree one thousand percent
PADDING VIA VOXATRON'S DEAD BODY?!
Why don't you eat me?

I am perfectly tasty...

AND I'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL! :twisted:

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Re: Rise to the Challenge redo - Ripcurl Reef

Post by morsel/morceau »

I'm very curious as to what is being played next. Dare I hope it's

LA:OSE

?

RttC was perhaps not as good a game as I remembered (a bit uneven in difficulty and inspiration with occasional strange design and decisions; raocow somehow alleviated the unfortunate lack of progression both by finding a difficulty curve in the game and ending up back where he started), but it still seemed very playable with some appealing highlights, and certainly, looking at it in cold blood, influential (that is for me at least, as I see that I've stolen some of its concepts for my own levels).
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