Making an earnest attempt to play What the Hell?

[Isocitration]

Hello there members of of the talkhaus! I'm Isocitration (or Iso for short if you think the former is a mouthful, which it certainly is) and for some reason, I decided that it would be a good idea to play raocow's What the Hell?... Yeah.

I know it's been done before, but I'd never watched or played it before so I figured it'd be a nice change from a "normal" hack which I'd be more inclined to play.

Anyway, here's the first part, which consists of me failing the intro level a few times then a crazy romp through the first level. Oh, and I will be using savestates in case anyone is wondering. I can't imagine the nightmare of doing this without them...

Comments and criticisms are greatly welcomed! I've been LPing for a while and I'd kinda like to know if I'm any good or not at this point.

Playin' What the Hell?
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 4.1
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 7.1
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14a
Part 14b
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17a
Part 17b
Part 17c
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20

Extra

Oy, boy do I feel like a jerk for this being my first post...

[Cup]

Hey, this is actually pretty good. I'll definitely be watching.

You are similar to raocow in many ways, which isn't bad because raocow is pretty good, but his obvious influence is a little off-putting. You seem to have a few lps under your belt, and while I haven't seen your earlier videos and therefore don't know how your commentary has been evolving, I certainly hope it's on its way to becoming something more unique and your own.

But regardless, "what the hell?" with minimal savestates will always be entertaining. I would really like to see one savestate per room, but I know how hard this game gets. I hope you keep it up, and I'm looking forward to the next update.

[Isocitration]

Thanks Cup, I honestly didn't expect a reply, let alone a positive one!

Yeah, I was wondering if my style seemed a bit too similar to raocow's, especially to the members of this forum. It's probably like watching a cheap imitation, which I agree is pretty annoying. Obviously I was greatly inspired by his style, but I am in no way trying to copy him or something like that.

Part 4 is now up and I'll admit it's pretty "meh" by my standards. It gets better in the last third or so of the vid.

Link!

Oh and I think I will try to limit myself to one savestate per room starting next vid. I do enjoy a challenge, however suicidal it may be!

[rubberfishy]

Watched the first episode, so I guess I'm watching this now.
I can't stand 99.99% of lp's so for me to watch the entire first video probably means something.

edit: also I liked it. I forgot to say that.

[raocow]

man that game is bad and was designed by a jerk

Good luck, and I'll definitely be watching!

[cozyduck]

I actually tried it toolless.
Level 1 is fine, 2 was annoying, but manageable.
I also got through sand forest theatre, but it killed any motivation I had to play further.
I couldn't even bring myself to watch videos of the rest of the game.

It's too bad, because I've seen plenty of cool ideas in the bits I'd played.

I always wanted to ask raocow though:
Assuming that you aren't capable to beat WTH toolless, what possesed you to think the game was okay the way it was? I don't mean to be inflammatory, I'm just genuinely curious.

[raocow]

The game wasn't ever really meant to be a 'game', but more of a playground for different level ideas and method that I had, plus wanting to know the amount of work that goes into 'making a hack'. That's kind of why midpoints disapear after a while, I was more concerned with 'the ideas', more than actually making 'a game'.

[Daarkbuu]

raocow what in the hell were you thinking with some of those backgrounds (especially the first level). I just realized how ugly they are!

[raocow]

To me, 'experimenting' means keeping all work, even the horrible parts! You're not learning if you don't keep the bad parts!

[Argumentable]

What the Hell is certainly one of the more interesting hacks. Fun, on the other hand, is debatable

[Isocitration]

Thanks for your support guys! Yeah, for an experiment, What the Hell is pretty elaborately made. I mean, I personally think the level design is really well done.The sprite placement however... Is a little insane and what makes it so difficult.

Part 4.1 is up and my one savestate per room endeavor is pretty much a failure already.

Blah.

Also, raocow, how long did it take to make What the Hell anyway? I'm curious for some reason.

[anomaly]

I agree that it's more for testing out the hack and its gimmicks and tricks, and not for normal gameplay - actually Kaizo is kind of like that. I liked the unique sprites in the short preview videos, but when I saw the hack itself, it wasn't too appealing. And seeing some of the levels, I preferred to watch someone play it rather than play it myself, because it's a different kind of fun, one that's not so much for gameplay.

[morsel/morceau]

raocow should remake wth, shorten the levels, make sections more playable, etc. There are a lot of good ideas there, and it seems a shame to leave it in its current form.

[raocow]

Basically I take my better ideas and rework them into a2mt, it seems.

[freelop]

After seeing this I decided to play at the same time (except I abuse the hell out of savestates due to my pathetic abilities) and this part is just pure evil.

[Isocitration]

Just wait, it gets worse! Level 3 is pretty insane and level 5... You can get screwed with savestates in quite a few instances if you're not careful.

This hack is nothing to be taken lightly, so I have learned!

Edit: Here's part 5, where I totally gave in to savestates. I think my savestate challenges will be on a per level basis as opposed to every level. If it's pure insanity I don't think I could do it without at least one as a midpoint of sorts.

Edit2: Part 6 is up. I'm wondering now if I may have missed the exit entirely in this level. Can you stand on those "sprite only" ropes if you're on a Yoshi? The thought didn't occur to me while playing. Also there's a keyhole. Secret exit perhaps? I didn't see any key or anything.

Edit3: I'm refusing to bump I guess. Part 7 was surprisingly easy...

Edit4: This post is starting to get a bit bloated, but I recorded an Extra thing.

[Isocitration]

Part 7.1 is up. I get confused.

Yeah, so what am I missing at the end there? Did I not get something I needed to get earlier or what?

Interesting level concept though!

[raocow]

To repeat what I just said in the youtubes: there's a reason that level is just littered with yoshi-kill blocks!

edit: also there's a reason why I keep saying this game, as a game, is pretty terrible. Ugh, jesus christ.

[Isocitration]

Geez, part 8 is another half hour-ish beast. These levels really start wearing down my sanity after a while, as you may see. Although it's not too far from the norm...

Anyway, enjoy.

Edit: Gonna avoid bumping for now. Part 9 is kinda neat! And I actually got through a room with only one savestate at the beginning! I wonder how often people check threads with no new posts? I certainly don't.

[Isocitration]

Just a heads up, next episode is going to be absolutely horrible in several ways. Check back later for the vid...

[raocow]

ah man I don't like the sound of that!

[Isocitration]

Well, here's Part 10 in all of its unholy glory. Or you know, whatever.

Something crucial in that level didn't appear right away, and it continuously refused to appear despite reset pipe opportunities, which is pretty odd.

Can you guess the magic sprite that didn't appear?

Edit: This episode isn't worth a bump. Part 11 ceder town felt really fillerish to me. Maybe I just don't like line guides and boo ceilings. I dunno.

[Isocitration]

Part 12 is the longest vid yet, at about 37 minutes in length. It started out really fun, then I started to get annoyed by layer 2 slopes (no surprise there), and finally I made stupid mistakes that just wasted a whole bunch of time.

Hooray!

[KingMike]

A little late, but normally Pokey can be destroyed by sliding up/down a hill. (not sure if raocow changed it)

[Isocitration]

Oh duh! I feel like an idiot for forgetting you could kill pokeys like that. I guess I just don't encounter them alongside slopes in hacks often enough. Would've made for a lot less frustration in that dang mushroom run passage!

Part 13 exists and the level was actually enjoyable for the most part! I liked the inverted sandcastle type effect in the final area. Also I just noticed that the sparky/hothead graphics are unchanged? I like the graphical changes; they're pretty hilarious!