#LittleBite-sizedArchive

[risu5waffles]

Sombre and sTENtorious Came the Call

Welp, maybe our last go around for one of these, so let's do it right.

Cute enough early effort from brett169. It's got all those early LBP hallmarks, but you can see the creator is stretching to do something big wiv it. There are a lot of little secrets and scorebubble caches, and i do always love to see those. Unfortunately, it's ultimately broken in LBP3. i don't know quite what it is, but Collected Object enemies from LBP1 are never treated well in 3, and even before we get to the one blocking our path, we pass by enemies that look like they've shaken themselves apart before we got there. It's not even something wonky about being in a community level, like the creators have mucked wiv the objects or something; the Redcoat enemies in the PotC DLC get up to some really weird shenanigans. Come to think of it, if i'm remembering right there's a set of chattery teeth in the DC DLC that's bugged in a way that'll keep you from getting 100% prizes there.

This one was sure a little bit of a lot and no lie. Edgy little murder/mayhem platformer, but at least is its own thing, and not another Friday the 13th knockoff. i'd be lying if i said the level was all that good, but it has its moments. The paintball rain was a fun, old-school effect; and it was kind of... cute's not the word, but the way you can choose to put that guy out of his misery (and get a prize!) or torture him more was definitely something. The whole level is definitely something for sure.

Oh my gosh, this level. This level here? This was so freaking cool it's actually kind of silly. chronos had mentioned on stream that the rotating level thing was a bit of a trend in LBP1 for a hot minute, but i don't remember playing any that committed to the bit as hard as this one. You've got mazes. You've got traps. There are all sorts of mechanisms to help you navigate. There's that neat little contraption you ride, when you grab it, it puts out bumpers to stay in place so you can control when you fall? And all that's before you get to the surface of the planet, all the buildings up there, and you parkour(ish) to get up to the Moon, and ride a shooting star to the scoreboard? Like, what the actual fuck, tho'? How do you make something that goes this damn hard and is this damn cool?

We talked about this one a lot last time, and i don't know that i have more in the tank for it now, but i still think it's really good, even for its flaws.

We talked about this one a few weeks back, when we covered Librarian's Mansion 2, and it's still as charming as it was then. i really, really wish i'd had the chance to play through some of the levels introduced here, i imagine they were pretty fun. i got the chance to talk a bit wiv Goof-master, and they seem a pretty nice kid. Very excited to create. i hope whatever their future looks like, they don't lose that spark. To be honest, most everybody i've met through doing reviews has been pretty cool. i've been inordinately lucky in that.

This is just a little giveaway level i found, tho' i don't remember why i found it. i already had a mostly complete logic bit set. Ended up working out for the best, tho'; i didn't have the old Global lighting and water logic bits, because i never used them in a level, but damn if they don't look fine. It's one thing i always appreciated about LBP1 logic, since there was a stronger possibility the pieces would be visible in level, Mm went through the design effort to make sure they would look nice as objects, the logic pieces from LBP2 on are all very readable when you have them in a chip, and that is really important, but they almost always stand out like a sore thumb when you see them in a level.

It's cute and everything, and i bet it was fun wiv a friend; but if you lose your bike, you're just fucked, and that's no fun. Honestly tho', i'm way more interested in the creator. lust-for-1985? What does that mean? What does that even mean?!

i can't rag on this level too hard, and honestly it's a good example of why we shouldn't just go and tee off on someone 'cause we don't click wiv what they've made. POBFISH's bio tells us they've got MS, and (at time of writing) were having a time of it. Also, interesting and appreciated, they updated the bio wivout erasing the previous bits, so we see them start at 44yo, to 45, a jump to 50 and expecting 51. That kind of sits wiv you a bit. When did they write that. Did they make it to 51? Did they stop updating because they stopped playing because they were done wiv the game, or because they were done? The level is... i hope they had a good time making it and playing it wiv their friends. i didn't have a bad time wiv it; the fish-vehicle-thing was a hoot. But there really wasn't much in there besides that. Well, it's not in me to throw shade here.

The gameplay here isn't too much to write home about; i feel like it struggles to maintain momentum, and there are bits that just don't parse super well visually. But dang if i didn't love the environment. Excellent use of extra layers and depth of field in the cameras to give the feeling that it's really expansive. Lots of movement, and decorations. Very solid choices in materials. Just all around nice to spend time in, and that's worth admission alone.

i appreciate this one, but i just can't bring myself to like it. The pace is just all over the map, and the timing on the hazards feels just tight enough to rack up a lot of needless deaths. It's got a lot going on, and it feels like it stays pretty true its theme, but at the end of the day, it really wasn't much fun.

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And that's that. Still thinking of how i want to handle the DLC review bits, but unless Sumo gets the servers back up, that'll be our last TENspot. i'll be honest wiv you, but it's melancholy as heck.

Thanks everyone for all the support for this Archive project. And just for everything up til now. You've made a major impact on my life, and i could never repay you for it. Keep yourselves safe, and remember that you're loved.

[risu5waffles]

We did it! Even if it took a while of riding the LittleBigPlanet 1 levels pretty hard. But we managed to balance out at 100 levels for each game at episode 300! Yatta!

Expect the balance to go quickly out of whack, because while it was amusing to hit this mark, i really don't feel like devoting the energy to maintenance. Still want to make an effort to keep my toes dipped in the old levels, tho'; found a lot of real gems in there.

It's funny when i started this series i was all, like, "i'm probably not going to keep up a daily episode schedule. That would just be absurd." Oh, ho ho ho, it is to laugh. A hah ha ha, we do have our fun.

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsP 02/16/24] 295 - DLC Dive: Metal Gear Solid

Well, we did it. A bit surprised; it wound up coming pretty much to the wire, but we did it.

The big takeaway is MGS remains a really great set, even played in LBP3 (wiv some caveats); but gosh do i ever wish they'd stuck wiv the scrapped Shadow Moses theme, instead of the vaguely Middle Eastern one we got.

Depicting real worldiness isn't impossible in LBP, i think, but it's always going to feel a bit uncomfortable if it's not done wiv a deft hand. There's a bit of the saccharine to SackThing, which, honestly, i love; but it makes things outside of strict deconstruction a little tough. Having iconography that is clearly invoking real war, that effects real people, and then putting SackThing in the midst, and it's a bit... but why tho'? Couple that wiv the story itself being tongue-in-cheek chiding on a completely low-stakes subject, and... like, they really should have gone wiv Shadow Moses.

All that being said, like, it's a good set. Probably the best of the lot for bang-for-your-buck, if you're asking me. The material set is incredibly solid, and super easy to build wiv. The decos look nice, even if they're a bit limited in the environments that support them (and even then, i shrunk those missile pods down and used them as braille strips in my train station hub, and they're a bit bumpier-looking than the real thing, but not so much as you wouldn't recognize what they are supposed to be). The stickers... well, the ones that work, work really well. The ones that don't (for me, the realistic branded ones), they just take up space.

All the levels are pretty much bangers, and don't overstay their welcome. The full lot probably takes 40minutes max to finish if you're really poking around. There's nothing that requires multiple players, so you're not juggling controllers, or feeling sol if you can't swing couch co-op. It plays a little worse in LBP3, but not so much that things are broken (except for the Super Sentry Turret you get as a collected object, that's just busted and nothing i tried could get it to fire properly).

i do recommend playing in LBP1 if you have the ability; it looks gorgeous, the Rex fight is a bit trickier and more tense, and you can still get 10 out of the 11 trophies.

All told, if they'd just gone wiv a different setting, and given us the "Middle Eastern" (actually probably Moroccan) materials in, like, the History set (they're all really nice materials, and that region doesn't really get any rep in the mainline LBP games), this would be perfect. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

The way they handled the "cutscene" here was pretty neat, and i really liked that they gave an active reason to replay the level by changing it into a shooting gallery. It's a little confusing as to what you're actually supposed to be shooting to get the prize bubbles to drop, but the level's only about a minute and a half long, so replaying isn't so much a chore.

This one is really, really keen. Incorporating the tutorial into an actual playable level instead of shunting it into the tutorial menu (and having it be possibly not implemented in LBP3 and locking us out of the logic tools, like wiv the Move cursor and the Memorizer) was really clever. What really makes this one special, tho' is how different it is when you play it the second time. Even in story mode, we seldom saw really big changes like that (that one race in DaVinci's Hideout is the only one i can think of off the top of my head). i can understand why. Trying to do something similar wiv the scenic/challenge modes for the archives and flag level, and it's really a lot of work. This one being short and sweet probably made it a lot easier from a design standpoint.

The stealth in this bit was a real fun concept, and i wish they'd made that section of it a little longer. The level's a fun one all-around, but it probably suffers the most from the tone/setting mismatch.

This one has the same tone issues as Act 3, but is also a really solidly designed, fun level. i think this might be the first time we see secrets implemented in an official level, tho' i'm sure there were creators in the community that were playing around wiv getting that kind of system to work by this point. The use of the paintinator for platforming wiv those drop-down platforms was really cool, and something i wish i'd seen more of in community levels. While i ran into the paintinator a lot, it was generally limited to "kill thing/open door." i know Paczek132 (shoot... was it 132 or 123?) had a level that really leaned into paintinator platforming, but it only really worked in LBP1, because of how they changed impact physics on the paintballs.

As much as i like this fight, and it does remain fun in LBP3, it probably suffers the worst from the transfer. There's something gone screwy wiv the rotation of one of the firing pods, and it shoots downward a lot less often than it does in LBP1, so it's a lot easier to just stay stationary for chunks of the fight and wait for the target to open up. Which, the third-phase target doesn't drop down the way it's supposed to; you can still hit it, but you have to be just about under it to manage. One oddity, but i played the set for the episode in all versions 1, 2, and 3, and all the visible tags we see here? They're visible in 2 as well. i wonder if it was an issue where Mm couldn't push an update on it, because of it being DLC? It seems strange that they would have just forgotten about it. When 2 came out, the tags thing was a known issue, and there were only the three big level kits out at that time (this, PotC, and Marvel. Monsters, History, and Incredibles were all one-offs). Maybe they just didn't think it was a big deal. They stand out like a sore thumb, tho'.

i can't hardly stand survival challenges. i just get bored of them way before whatever goal that's been set, and this one's no different. i think the only one i've ever really enjoyed was chronos453's Virtual Return, and i was totally pants at that one. It was really, really good tho'. i mention in the gameplay bit of the LBsP episode, but you can see all the plasma balls have green tags on them, and i would love to know what those were triggering.

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It's weird being done wiv this after spending, what, 3weeks or so wiv it taking up the majority of my brainspace and available time. i'm glad to see the backside of it, to be honest. Glad in the good way. This is a good episode, right up there wiv the Chapter Zero one. But it was a lot of work, and it's good to be finished.

i don't know if i'll do another of these. None of the other sets really hook me like this one does, tho' i feel like i could make a decent go at a Move Pack episode, and i have a lot of questions about the Marvel set. i really, really don't want to do a PotC episode. There is just nothing about that set aside from the introduction of water, and a couple of materials that really interests me at all.

Whatever i wind up doing, it's going to be a good while before i even want to get started on it. Want to spend some time wivout anything more pressing than keeping up wiv the DLC archiving. Let me tell you, the Move Pack (i'm working on that right now) is some kind of pain in the butt.

[risu5waffles]

TENsion and Chills

So.... the servers are fucked at the moment, which is... not good. Folx getting folx banned (including the Community Manager), and the online has been shut down "for maintenance," and we can just cross fingers they come back up at all, let alone reasonably soon. i'm lucky i'm backlogged to the 25th, but i'd rather my last Archive episode not be 390 (the level is, to be fair and honest, kinda pants. Spoilers).

At least it gives me a little time for some administrata.

A bright and stickertastic homage to The Gardens, which (generally) manages to maintain a decent pace throughout the race. Like a lot of these kinds of levels, it felt like it would have been a lot more fun wiv friends, but i still managed to have a good time. Except for the spinny-grabby bits. Gods but do i ever suck at the spinny-grabbies.

We talked about this one on LittleBite-sizedPlanet episode 287, but the short version is it sucks? Just a troll level for the lulz? Tho', to its credit, it is a level; like, beginning, end, gameplay in the middle, some work to present an environment. So... i guess i mean a troll level in the sense that the creator is clearly capable of more, and just decided to shitpost? So... not a troll level, a shitpost level.

This is the level that inspired Tin_Boy551's Cardboard Castle a couple videos up, and even tho' it's not my favourite of five-ate-five's work, you can see the jump in quality over The Garden in 1 Hour. This one definitely would have been more fun wiv friends; there's just so much going on, and i can imagine players on different paths and getting into each other's way. i bet it was a hoot. There's also a fair amount of working in the secondary characters. We do run into levels from time to time that give you the chance to play as every character, but generally it's more of a frustrating toss-in.

Now this is some quality stuff. Some real inventive playing around wiv LBP1 mechanics, a fun well-realized theme, good puppet work, enjoyable gameplay. See, i told you five-ate-five could produce quality.

A big, chonky, proto-Adventure here. All the levels are pretty great, tho' the second is the one that initially caught my eye. It's funny, because i'd worked in a similar conceit for an enemy/obstacle in my abortive Archives level, but it's handled so much better here (the benefit of planning an entire level around the concept, instead of throwing it in as a one-off fairly late in planning... also that five-ate-five is just a better creator). Shame how over-bright it is, but that might just be a combination of lighting changes between LBP2 and 3 and my telly's contrast being a touch wonky.

It's interesting, but it feels like there was a period in LBP2 where you ran into a bunch of levels working in the meta of community creations, and directly, openly breaking the fourth wall to address player expectations the way we see in Huge Inspiration Stealing Lazors. It... kinda works? Like, as a bit of community history, seeing it and remembering "oh yeah, players demanding boss fights was totally a thing for a bit." But it also feels a bit like a "you had to be there" kinda deal, and that the creator wasn't confident enough in their ability to craft their own narrative. i feel like a good example is in Over There and Back Here Again by scuzzy1973 that we featured way back in LittleBite-sizedArchive 061. Like, it just sticks out like a sore thumb, and comes off a touch mean-spirited? Here it mostly kinda works, but i think a lot of that is that it manages to stick the landing pretty well. Also that bitchin' falling castle platforming bit after the fight.

i just loved this one. The environmental design just hits all of my good buttons, and you can see how it was a clear inspiration for how i presented the city in A Totally Reasonable Response. Gameplay stays pretty fast moving once you know the level layout, tho' the first time through i can see it being easy to get yourself stuck in a couple of places. Not, like, softlocking the level or anything like that, just not quite realizing where you're supposed to go next. Still, i had a lot of fun going through this one multiple times to get a really good run for the Archives, and that's not something i can say about a lot of levels.

These are both fine levels, tho' i feel like almost anything would have come off as a bit of a step down after a week of some of five-ate-five's best stuff.

corysix6 made these after a hiatus, and it's always nice to see a creator get their inspiration back. i wish i'd had the chance to take a look at some of their older work on stream to get a feel for how these meshed in, and if they were indicative of cory's style, or just a shaking off the rust exercise, 'cause they are a lil scanty. Even so, the gameplay is fun, and the presentation may be sparse, but it is clear, and clearly thought-out.

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Right. That's another TENspot done and in the can. Depending on how Sumo reacts to this latest clownfoolery, we might only have three more of these before we put a bow on the whole endevour, and that has me feeling all sorts of ways.

i know one of my biggest complaints has been time, and the lack of it in my life; and i know one of the biggest timesinks aside from work-work is my video work. It might only be a couple of hours every day or every couple days, but those are still a couple hours out of a very short stock of usable ones. i don't know what i would do if i suddenly had those hours back, but it would be something.

But on the other hand, i do all this because it is, in fact, fulfilling. Seeing and sharing other creators' work, sometimes creators who may not have had any eyes on them aside from a friend or two; the recording and simple editing. The time i spent getting those title cards laid out just right. All the work that goes into the LittleBite-sizedPlanet reviews. Getting a video together and uploaded, and being able to say "i did that." It's never been about getting big on YouTube, or step-stoning into some career. It's just been a little thing i've done for myself that's helped me get through some really, really rough patches just by being a continuous process that has a tangible end... product isn't the word i want, but it colocates wiv end, you know? The fact that i've met a lot of good people through this, some of whom i now consider close and important friends, was an unexpected, but deeply, deeply appreciated cherry on top.

And that, after so many years, i've finally had a spark of wanting to create my own (non-video) stuff; i wasn't thinking that would happen at all. But i look at Craftworld by Rail and A Totally Reasonable Response, and i am a little proud of them. i'm glad, especially wiv Response and it being very much a loveletter to the other queer players in LBP, that they resonated wiv so many people.

So this server shutdown has me feeling some kinds of ways, let me tell you what. i've known for years that LBP (in the company-supported online sense) has been living on borrowed time, 15years is very long in the tooth for something like this. We still can't say that this is the straw that breaks the camel's back, but it's clear that Sumo and Sony don't put a particularly high stock in keeping the ship afloat, and the last time things were pushed sideways (thanks Jon, you fucking fuck) it cost us lbp.me and the PS3 servers. If corpo says "yup, we're done here," i'm not going to be shocked. But it is going to hurt a little. Like watching your meemaw who's being treated for latestage cancer get hit by a bus. You knew the end was in the post, but you weren't really prepared for it to be right now.

[risu5waffles]

TEN toes of pleasure

Gosh, but i let this set way too long. Meant to clean these up over the break, but... well, i just didn't? Honestly, they're a little pain in the butt, but what can you do about it?

i remember finding this one well more frustrating than it really needed to be, and not really managing to nail the theme that well? Everything just seems so washed out, and the level has a much emptier feel than Joja's usual. i honestly feel pretty hit-and-missy on Joja as a creator. Like, they put the work in, and when they manage to nail it, the look of their levels is fantastic; but it doesn't seem like they have a great idea of how to set up a proper difficulty curve, their checkpoints are... they could be placed better, and i usually wind up at the end of the level just kind of wanting things done wiv? Like a well presented meal that's really too much to stomach.

This one's a keeper tho'. i'd always been familiar wiv taxok20 through their music, so it was a bit of a surprise that they did gameplay levels, and did them so well. This level just oooooozes wiv charm and good humour, tons of neat details and characters; and i will never not appreciate when creators try to make their levels bilingual. It's not easy to juggle a second language, and that deserves respect. i wish i could use Japanese characters when inputting text in LBP3, but it won't register the keyboard even when i have system language set to Japanese, maybe on account of it being a US copy?

An earlier effort from taxok20, and it definitely shows. It's not a bad level, and i definitely had fun wiv it; but it's a lot clunkier than their later work, and you don't really get the charming vibe we found in Welcome to the Halloween. Still, we all gotta start somewhere.

i don't know what, if anything, i was expecting wiv this one, but gosh is it nice to look at. There's an oddly LBP2 feel to the whole affair, and i found myself just enjoying it throughout. Would have been a good pick for LittleBite-sizedPlanet, honestly.

We'll actually be talking about the follow up to this one next week, and the LBsP breakdown for this should be somewhere in here. Search the LBsP tag and that should turn it up? i hope? i know tumblr search is pretty pants.

A neat idea, and i really like the way the sandworm moves, but boy howdy was it a pain in the butt to actually engage wiv. i understand the need for a larger arena, just to keep track of where the thing is, but it makes things really hard to track, too. This is another Song 2 level, so i am doing this purely from memory, since i don't feel like digging out the media player to watch the archived file (i realize it's not really digging anything out, it's just that my laptop is VERY slow, and i have zero time this morning. Trying to do too many things at once).

This one's exactly what it says on the tin. It is unfinished. It has skellingtons. It is a level. Mineplanet is a fantastic kid, and i've known them pretty much forever now. Since they were an actual kid (well, teen, but that's pretty kid from this perspective), and i just hope to hell that life smiles on them. i mean, i hope that for most everyone, but this is a more personal hope, you know?

The set pieces in this one are so well done! Even if it's a bit limited, i still had a heckin' good time going through it. CB's great in just about everything i've seen them do, but it's nice that they're trying styles outside their previous usual wheelhouse. Nicer still that they're succeeding at them.

This one's a bit more hit-and-missy. Some of the dioramas do look really cool, but then you've got a few in there that just feel like filler added because trickyomicky had to have one for each biome. Still, i appreciate the ambition, and the difficulty of nailing down that many different ideas well. i'll be interested in seeing if this one gets filled out to cover the full series as promised.

i'll be honest, all i remember of this one was that it looked nice, and i didn't very much enjoy playing it.

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i'm hecking sorry it took so long to get these up; and i know we've still got 351~365 to go, and it's gonna take a bit of time. So damn much to do, and no time to do it in, that's for sure. Take care, y'all! i love ya lots, but i gotta run!

[risu5waffles]

The good news is the whole first week of January's LittleBite-sizedArchive episodes are recorded, edited, and uploaded.

<whew>

It was a whole job of work. 'cause apparently i don't know the meaning of "easing back into the swing of things." We're going to be looking at chronos453's Chapter Zero, and it's a pretty important project for me.

So that's the good news. The not at all good news is ShareFactory decided that all my un-exported projects don't exist anymore. Which means the "only needs the b-roll edited in" LittleBite-sizedPlanet epsiode needs putting back together again. Luckily i have all the raw footage for it, so i don't need to record anything new, but wivout the b-roll it's still 12chunks of footage to string together and slap overlays on and fiddle wiv trimming. i know the clock during the takeaway is going to be buggered, 'cause i know i won't be able to get the cuts exactly where they were, and all those extra seconds will add up. i don't even want to think about it.

The whole episode works out to almost 59minutes, and i haven't done anything so chonky since i was doing the old review show. And this is twice the size any of those episodes were. Wiv twice the number of levels i needed to record impressions of, come to think of it.

Maaaaaaaybe, we'll do another biggie like this in June. Provided the servers are still around. And i'm super glad to be doing this one. Chapter Zero's pretty special to me, and so is chronos, and i want to do both of them justice. But i do think something of this scope is just outside of my energy and ability to make into a regular thing.

Ooof... i just had an ugly thought, but. This was on my side account, but what if i lost the ShareFactory data on my main as well (i haven't needed to check yet)? Yiiiiick... i don't even want to think about it. i don't have any current, unfinished projects there, but i do have a whole heap of bits and pieces lying around waiting to be tied into something else (might never happen, but i kinda pack rat these things).

Well, we'll fry those eggs when we get to them, i guess.

[risu5waffles]

Meatspace-y Things

Just a heads up that i'll be taking December off from reviews and archive work, 'cause a girl is beat-bone-tired. Streams will continue as normal, so no worries there!

[risu5waffles]

i Miss DoTENBori

i really do. i know it's gotten cleaned up a lot from when i first got to Osaka in 2004, it's grimy charm brushed and burnished off, but it still had that undertone of scuzziness that said it could all come back if the city took the day off upkeep.

Also, i needed a TEN for the title. Sue me.

We talked about this one the Friday before last, and i still like it for it's frenetic crufting. Maybe not the most polished version of the theme that i've played, but it's got a lot of heart to it.

The precursor to Rescuing the Monster's Child that we reviewed last month. It's mostly a gallery to showcase that bigass monster, but at least some work got put in that department, which is more than you can say for most galleries. The monster itself is, well, i mean, it doesn't do much; i think at this point in LBP, folx were still working out how to get large contraptions to reliably stand up and manage limited movement. It's still impressive, and cute in its own way, and i could appreciate it. i'm pretty sure there was an intended flow to this level that i completely fucked up by going further back in layer than what would have been possible in LBP1. Ope.

This is an earlier level by the kid who did Hello Autumn! a few entries up, and it's definitely the weaker of the two in my books. It's got swimming, and it's quite rare that i find LBP swimming to be all that enjoyable as a traversal mechanic. The cameras tend to be overly pulled back, and it just feels slow moving all-around. Like Hello Autumn, it's overburdened wiv prizes, so that was going to make it a hard sell wiv me as well. It still has that charm of a level the creator really enjoyed making, tho'; and i can enjoy it on that level at least. Some creators can really bring that feeling to the front in their work.

It will always feel a little wild to me to think LBP generates its own intracommunity drama. i mean, on one level, any group of people larger than two members is going to pick up some drama over its lifespan, but it's still, like... it's LittleBigPlanet. But there was a contest, and our own wonderful chronos453 won it, and some folx got really cheesed off. chronos showed me a few of the comments from the time (i was blissfully ignorant of it, as i usually am until years after the fact), and this level here got put forward by a number of them as the level that really should have won. So, thought i, let's have a look. It's not bad. Like, i love the look of it. Well executed sticker panel visual presentation can be very slick looking. Usually when, as we see here, it's the exclusive or at least primary element in play (another great example is in chrono's Demo series, or the menus in his Tower Defense level. Gods and fish, those menus are actual fire). The problems creep in in the game itself. It's exceptionally ok. Like, i think it'd work really well as an early mobile game (that is not a dig, mobile games got shittier and shittier the more companies realized they could be turned into money engines that looked like games, as opposed to games that might happen to generate money, if you ask me). You've got a keep ship moving until you take enough damage and die gameplay loop that is, at least, easy to get into. i found it a little too simple to engage my interest more than a few tries, and it really wasn't something i would find myself going back to wivout need. And it's a shame, because you can tell a lot of work went into putting it together. i have no doubt that Gilinator was quite serious about the project, and put in the hours; but this is a good level, not a winning level.

Here's the winning level. Honestly, despite one significant flaw, it's one of the best, if not the best survival challenges i've played in 15years of LittleBigPlanet. Elegant, stylish presentation. Gameplay that requires the player to be active and paying attention throughout. Quick to get into, and quick to restart when you've messed up (a point crhonos mentioned being a particular focus in his design of the level). Like, people complained that that was too much of an homage, and not original enough; and i would invite them to go back to the survival challenge in the Metal Gear dlc pack and tell me if this is not an improvement on that in every department. You could argue, and fairly, if this should have been first place; there's always room for that kind of conversation. You cannot argue in good faith that this isn't a top-notch level. However, i did mention a significant flaw. It is not in anything that the level does wrong, or a failing on the part of chronos as a creator. It's the simple fact that, maybe not for everyone but at least for me, using the Paintinator really starts to hurt after a while. i wonder about the susceptibility of people to RSIs. Like, it can't be a 100% thing, or else they'd be more well designed for. There are millions of folx working cash registers that i imagine come home fine after work, but when i was a kid my friend up the block's mum wound up needing multiple surgeries to try and fix up her fucked up wrist after a couple years of "help make the ends meet" work at JC Penny's. i bring it up because, like, Mm must have playtested the Paintinator. Even if it was a dlc and not, like, the main game, they would have had a team working on it. And then QA after. Did no one say "hey, ummm... my wrist kinda felt like it was on fire after the Metal Gear Rex fight"? And maybe they didn't, or maybe it was just one or two folx who complained, and that was deemed an acceptable risk by legal. Maybe i'm just one of the lucky ones i kind of hate that.

This level was... it was definitely a lot. Not, necessarily a bad a lot, just a lot. i really enjoyed the extremely "this is not a real place, but we'll treat it like a real place" cartoon environment vibe; like it manages to pull that off pretty well. i like that there were a couple of spots where you've got mechanical movement and interactions mixed in wiv behind-the-scenes logic, i'll always have a soft spot for those. The end feels like it could have used a little bit more wrap up, and i will almost always prefer a scoreboard to an adventure board, but that was all ok. But... for all that is good and holy, why did the creator put that arm-y enemy where it was, and why was it set up how it was? Like, that bit just kills any momentum the level has. It's such a pain in the arse to get over the arm, because it's kinda-sorta tracking you, and then the bounce pad puts you onto a wall jump that, if you're not careful, will throw you right back into the spikes on the arm. i was not a fan of that bit, i can tell you what.

Once again i have gotten to my Halloween content well after Halloween. It one of the dangers of doing things in advance. You'll record a bunch, and then only later when you're actually setting up the editing and uploads do you realize you've already set for videos all the way up to, like, a week after some upcoming event. This one was a fun little one. Great presentation, very charming, smooth gameplay. i don't know if it's strong enough to make me want to come back to, but definitely glad i ran into it this year.

Talked about this a little bit back, but it's still really good.

What do you even say about Ramp? The first. The best. Picked up Level of the Day yesterday (i am half convinced because i, in a roundabout way, reminded StevenI that it existed). Ramp is an honest hoot, and i found myself just laughing in delight. Thought, how haven't i archived this one yet? Why wasn't it the first LBsA episode? i mean, i know the reason it wasn't the first is i'd wanted that slot to go to chronos, but Ramp should have been number two by all rights.

i think First was EightWonder-'s first published in the actual release? 'cause Ramp was first-first. Still, this one's a great example of early-early LBP1 platforming, and i had a real good time wiv it. It's a little confusing in its pathing at times, and it's definitely super-kludgy, but it has such a "having a good time" vibe to it that it's hard not to love it. i appreciate it when folx get all srs biz in their creations (i don't necessarily mean that the tone is serious, just that they've clearly taken creation seriously), but i do love it when you see these levels that are, like, let's just have fun and throw everything at the wall and see what we end up wiv. As long as the result is sufficiently level as to be playable, it's always at least a little bit of a good time.

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So that's the that for this set. Pretty good spread all in all, no real clunkers. i'm sorry for being late, again, but thing's have been life-shaped. Dealing wiv a lot of little health stuff. Mostly headaches and a lot of exhaustion. Nothing that has me, like, "maybe i should go to a clinic" kind of thing, but it's really got me worn down.

A quick reminder that @soupum is running a LBP stream for Palestine at twitch.tv/soupum . Drop on by and give him some love!

[risu5waffles]

High TENsion Hazard

Oh what? A TEN spot on time?

Oh my gods... i came across this collab project mentioned in some article on some gaming site i'm not going to bother looking up. i thought "hey! That looks neat!", and it was just so much pain. Now, i don't want to discount the ambition of the project; an 8 level adventure spread between 6 creators, it must have been just awful to organize. And it must be said, some of what they pulled off is really pretty impressive for fairly early-on LBP1. But even taking all that into account, these levels have not been at all kindly treated by the various updates, bugfixes, and engine changes; and they're all broken in sometimes fundamental ways, that just makes the experience a chore. Plus, two of the levels are missing, and the last level is mistitled, so it doesn't come up wiv the others when you do a search for LittleBig Contra. This first one does a pretty good job recreating the look and feel of the OG's first stage, and that is legitimately really cool. Unfortunately, they put all these sticker interactables in the level, i'm guessing there were supposed to be guns behind them, like in the NES game. Well, they're not there anymore. And your only spawn & paintinator pedestal is on the helicopter, so if you try to pick any of the boxes up, you have to die or you won't be able to do anything against the enemies. Also, did i mention the base version is a five life checkpoint? Ope. Thankfully they give you a sticker wiv the Konami Code on it for an infinite life one, which you will probably need against the boss. Who is very cool, but also kind of bullshite if you don't know what you're doing.

There's a stage missing between these, so you have to do the fuckers back-to-back. Well, you don't have to. You could be sensible and say nuts to them and skip ahead. Or you could be like me and locked into archiving the lot of these damned things. Which is why one of us has a life, and i don't. The concept here is pretty cool. A camera-behind-the-player forward scrolling level. The way they pulled off the effect of proceeding through the halls is really quite cute and inventive. However... Let's start wiv you can miss the jetpack you're supposed to auto-equip that will let you control the character, which throws you onto electricity, which ends the stage instantly. Well, not instantly. You'll spawn in a chute that leads to a flaming pit until you run out of lives, but you'll have no chance to actually play. i'm still not certain if that was a purposeful design choice, the one chance thing, or if something's gone fucky. You can only take one hit, you maneuver like a boat that's been dipped in concrete, and sometimes your character/puppet/thing just dies, but you don't. They don't respawn either. There's no feedback on if you're actually hitting anything until it just blows up, so you just kinda have to spray and pray (the mooks only take one hit, so they're not a big problem at least). Also, after the boss fight, it just ends, but it keeps on spawning bullets, so you don't know it's ended. You have to pop yourself, which usually sends you to the fiery pit, except this time it will take you to the exit hall. i figured that out by accident. i kept quitting back to pod from the menu 'cause i didn't want to sit through the pit death. i probably beat the first one three times before i figured out what to do, and i think i only did that because i said "fuck it, some of our archive episodes are uncompleteable, and that's life" and popped myself just to get a game over screen. Did i mention you have to beat these wivout taking a single hit?

A break from our regularly scheduled whinging for a level we talked about last week. Bask in the simple joys.

And we're back! All i remember about this one was the electrified tanks would not die, and i had to pull some weird-ass trick jump off a mob spawn to get up on a wall i wasn't supposed to be on, so i could get enough breathing room to kill a boss i wasn't even sure if i was dealing damage to.

i... don't remember anything anymore aside from the fact this one looked kind of neat? And there was a giant guy? i think they were buggy? Or maybe there were two giant guys, and only one of them was fucked up? At this point i was in the homestretch, and i purely had my eyes on the prize of never fucking having to play any of these levels again.

This one's honestly the best of the lot, and to think i almost missed out on playing it. That probably sounds like i'm being snarky, but i honestly liked this one a fair deal. The inside the alien biome was pulled off pretty effectively. i really liked the creature designs. Nothing was too broken, tho' i definitely could have used a few more lives. i feel like i struggled a bit telling what layer the projectiles were going to be in, but that's pretty small potatoes compared to all the bullshite i put up wiv getting here. The alien heart was really cool, and the little scorpions it spawned were real cuties. And i never. Ever. Have to go back to Stage 2 or 4. Ever again. But you know, i never did beat Contra as a kid. A friend and i rented it, like, a dozen times from the local mom and pop, but i don't think we got past stage three. That was... 1987? Sweet Sonny Chiba. i was fucking 9yrs old? Can you imagine little 9yr old me, getting her ass handed to her up and down the block by fucking Contra. Fuck you Contra! i finally beat you! Take that motherfucker!

This one was cute enough, if a little overmuch for a race. i think if you know the layout well enough, you can probably finish wiv a few points on the timer, but it'll be tight. The swimming sections do it, really. Swimming always, always slows things to a crawl. Or maybe a backstroke. Not that kind. The swimming kind. Get your mind out of the gutter.

i really wound up enjoying this one. Clean, straight-forward presentation. Good momentum. A little challenging, but nothing that's really going to make you sing for your supper. Lots of little mechanicals and level interactions too. The giant crate bounce pads really worked for me. Dunno why, but i've always loved homebrew bounce pads, even if they're hella fiddly to get working right (i've yet to make a set myself that really felt satisfying).

Oh. Right. The glass/grass glitch. i forgot how that was pulled off. The level's a touch overbright in presentation, but i did find myself enjoying the gameplay a fair bit. Aside from the glitch, there isn't that much to write home about, but it was fun, and it's hard to ask for too much more than that.

So there you have it. On time and under budget. And i've got to hop into the shower right now if i want one before stream, so, you know, there's that.

[risu5waffles]

If nothing else, i'm set for episodes all the way to November 1st. Not the hugest backlog in the world, but not one to sneeze at either. Hopefully it'll take a bit of stress off my shoulders to have a little less on my plate.

[risu5waffles]

Hark! The Rains SofTEN, or something.

One of these days i'm going to have to bite the bullet and stop trying to work TEN into my titles. But not today.

These levels took me _all_ the way back, no lie. The cream of the (at least English speaking-side) LBP crop putting together a set of levels to teach folx how to get logic to work in LBP1, back when everything had to be done wiv physical objects. A lot of these techniques still work fine, even if they can be a little fiddly to set up, and have been completely obviated by the addition of microchips and logic gates in 2. i think the only one i couldn't get working was the non-dissolve permanent switch from the Advanced Pack. i built it just like the object from the copyable level, same tweaks, but it just wasn't staying on. Everything else tho', it all works just like it says on the tin. i played a lot of these tutorial how to logic/build a level levels, and the way they made this one into an actual environment, wiv nods at a story, really made it stand out. Most times it'd be an empty create mode environment; which, to its credit, that style _did_ allow for more to be put in a level. There were some Jside levels i've played that did, at least, make a level-level to play as you learn. i wonder what happened to all the tutorial levels. i mean, you still see a few in the wild, and they were never the most heavily represented level-type, but even still, it feels like i barely run into them any more. To come back to these levels, and there's a break in the Intermediate Pack, so you can't see how they carry the framing device from it to the Advanced, and that just gets my goat. i wanna know why we've gone from this nice office/factory in the woods to getting airlifted into what looks like a warzone.

Ratalsoni1 has been a really nice creator to stumble across this late in the game's life cycle. We looked at Climbing the Mountain a couple(?) weeks back on LittleBite-sizedPlanet, and that was a real winner. This as a follow up is, like, yeah, this kid's not just a flash in the pan. Using the hairdrier is a bit fiddlier, and it does make the first run through a bit to get used to; but i found when i gave it a few plays to really get familiar wiv it that it really is an enjoyable level. And dang, but does it look nice. The environment, in general, is spot on, but there's also a really solid set of material choices here, and the use of layers really gives things a sense of depth. The whole thing manages to avoid that sense of emptiness in LBP3 levels that we talked about in the last TEN spot. The only fly in the ointment is dealing wiv those springbolts. It's more an on me thing, but i have _never_ not struggled at least a little navigating them, and adding the hairdrier to the mix... the first time through was _just a bit_ of a pain in the arse.

Why is Hillary Clinton in this level, tho'? Like, when the aliens are all "let's distract them wiv an attractive human female" and they put a picture of Hillary Clinton on the screen, and it's just... i mean, i get the dig, only weirdo aliens would find her attractive kind of thing, but... it's such an odd little joke to find at random in an LBP level. i should look up where she was in the public consciousness in 2009. Otherwise, this is a really neat level. Setting it up as a simple "shoot down these waves of enemies" style level, and then elaborating it out into an escape the base type of deal where the level would typically end was super cool. It's chonky (a little bit to its detriment, really. i was pretty ready for it to be over by the time it was over), and there's a pretty solid set of things to do along the way. You can see some of the LBP2 specifics added in the repub, but most of this was just straight-forward LBP1 building, and this one really shows just how big some of those levels could get.

i want to go back and thank past me for hearting Sci-Fi World 2 back in the day, 'cause i probably never would have run into it again otherwise. Also i want to tell her things will be ok, 'cause she was dealing wiv a lot. i love how you can see the progress in level design and presentation over the course of these levels. Like, just in presentation, you've got an environment in 4 that is much more of itself than the one we see in 1. i do have to say i cottoned to the setting in 1 a little more, but that's very much a me thing. The downside of that progress is the techniques mdaj learns and employs are very much dependent on the fiddly physics of LBP1, and, well, that just leaves 4 broken. 3 isn't even up on their planet anymore, so i have to imagine something went sideways wiv it after an update, and it just never got repaired/repubbed. Shame that. Still, what we have left is an absolute hoot.

Another mdaj jam here, and unfortunately another that's not been well served by changes to LBP's engine. The lighting is just **so** bright in some places, like glaringly so. Also the bit at the end that's just broke so you can't progress. Hate that. Watching the video and i was, like, bitch you can just drop down and forward a layer and get out that way. i felt like such a goober, i went and played it again, and thankfully, no, you can't actually get out that way, it just looks like you can. Even wiv the level being broken, it's still worth a quick play just to see mdaj's sculpting and presentation skills. Those dragon-y dinosaur-y things are super cool looking.

----------------------------------------------------

Dang, that is just a really solid set of levels there. Not a one of them is crummy. Spoilers: this trend will not, unfortunately, continue.

i'm feeling really torn over all this bullshite going on wiv YouTube recently. Like, if it works out that adblocker is rendered non-functional, i _can_ just stop watching videos. i'll be pissed that i can't directly support other archivists like @soupum and Myravrax, but aside from the LBP side of things, and @alicerulerofwater 's Gemini podcast, YouTube videos haven't been more than bgm for me for awhile now. But, like, how i can continue to put up my own videos on a site that i'm not willing to watch? That feels sketchy as heck. i honestly don't know, what things are going to look like going forward, and this puts a lot more on my mental plate than i really needed at the moment. i guess all i can do is keep an eye on the situation, and hope that uOrigins can manage to get things to a point where i don't need to be changing my filters and fucking around wiv things every twelve hours. What a fucking mess this whole thing is.

[risu5waffles]

A Small Wait to SweeTEN the Taste

i know, i know. i've just been a bit overwhelmed, but here we are and here we go.

A real high quality, expansive bit of LBP2 fun here. Great environment, decent story set up (even if i don't think it ever got paid off in a later level?), some fun tweaks on the mechanics. The funny thing is, i wound up having the most difficulty navigating through the tutorial bit; after that and the level flowed pretty smoothly. Nice difficulty curve, too. There're a couple of parts that were tricky, but fair, and nothing that suddenly seemed like an impossible task. The level is quite chonky, tho'; making use of the novel (at the time) level link feature. i think it uses the extra space well, but i can see how it might be an issue if you're looking for a quick in-and-out. As an aside, but tagging players never seem to have a good idea of what actually constitutes long. Well, that's perhaps unfair; what i mean to say is they don't seem to have a consistent idea of it. i see the "long" tag show up on as many 5minute levels as i do on 30minute ones. It makes it a bit hard for me to judge if a level is going to be safe for a before-work recording.

Bundling these together (out-of-order) since they're from the same creator, and working in the same theme. Lots of level to traverse, clear, coherent theming and decoration, minor, but interesting level interactions. i wound up enjoying both of these an awful lot, even if i felt the second started to get just a bit draggy toward the end. The bloom-the-flower bits in the second are a lot more active for the player, which was cool, but not always clear in how they were supposed to be accomplished, and i feel like a lot of the deaths in that last one could be at least a little chalked up to poor communication.

We talked about this one last week and it's still pretty, but decidedly meh.

This is a real neat race that i really enjoyed a lot more once i had a better idea of the layout. Presentation on a pure visual sense is spot on as always from Mellangard and Alpi, tho' the color choices could make some bits blend together a bit. My biggest issues wiv the race, the introduction of the velociraptor-hats and the chandelier jump were apparently cleaned up right after i did this recording. If only i'd waited an extra day. It does make me wonder how to handle levels that have received updates that change their handling significantly. chronos453 did some work on Neon Dimension 3, and it plays so much more smoothly than when we archived it. i kinda want to do a spin-off playlist where i can shift the old versions, and put the updated versions in the main ones, but i don't know if it comes up often enough to justify the extra work.

This is definitely a level. No one can take that away from it.

This one's a fun little one, but i kinda felt like it might have been cheating a bit? i mean to say, i don't think the dominoes were falling purely via physics, but maybe wiv a little goosing along here and there. i don't feel like the level is worse off for it, but it is just a touch less impressive.

i swear that car was stuck. i pulled the lever the right way, and it still didn't go anywhere. The level is... well, it's certainly enthusiastic, i'll give it that. i have a fondness for these "let's throw everything from collected objects in, and see what happens" levels, provided they make the effort to be an actual level, and this one definitely does. Is it a good level? Errr... honestly i couldn't say yes. But is it a fun level? Yeah. i definitely had a good enough time wiv it. i do feel like it would benefit from playing wiv a few friends, but then you could say that about a lot of early LBP1 levels.

Oh my dogs, this fucking level. i super, super did not enjoy this one. i actually found myself wishing the checkpoints weren't infinite, so i could just say "bugger this for a game of soldiers." Everything is super-fiddly to being just this side of unfair. The spikes placed in areas that typically would be safe spots to plan you jumps were definitely a choice. And the wobbly platforms where i finally gave up? Who ever thought those were a good idea? i don't know. Maybe to HARD level players, this kind of thing is totally the shits, but i've only got so much time to spend, and i spent way too much of it here.

i'm torn on this one. It is a really nicely presented level, that makes solid use of the extra layers we have in LBP3. There's some nice gameplay, and a little poking around for secrets that i always love. It's a touch overlong feeling, but not so much as to be an issue. But it has that "big empty place" vibe that plagues a lot of LBP3 levels i find. i'm not sure precisely what gives it that, but it's there. It's like... i'm going to have to put some real thought into this. It's bothered me long enough that i should probably pick it apart. Maybe if i get my thoughts clear enough, i could do a little video on it.

-----------------------------------------

So that's our TEN. There're some real nice ones in there, but they're snuggled up wiv some real dross too. But, that's not the worst spread we could get, i suppose.

i am so busy. i want to get a little food in me before the stream. Siren is a real interesting play so far, but it is also an awful lot. i just know we're going to spend the whole first hour just trying to keep this old fucker from being killed. i swear, he is not the quickest draw in the West. Like, serious, that rifle packs a fucking punch, but getting it up to actually use takes a whole dog's age.

[risu5waffles]

Always on TEN Time, Except When We're Not

i never really got too into the meme/IP/copypasta horror stuff in LBP. Not a knock against it, but i was already pretty thoroughly aged out of most of the stuff, or too out of the loop to really get the hook; like Jeff the Killer and whatnot, i knew of, but i didn't really know. It's also, i just think you've got to push the kit a bit harder to get a horror feel from it. Like, you can definitely get horror out of cute things, but you're working at a bit of a disadvantage. Even levels that go heavy in on atmosphere and vibe still have to deal wiv the fact that the player character, regardless of how you costume them, just radiate pleasantness. Impossible? Definitely not. Difficult? Absolutely. But there was that kerfluffle wiv CrimsonFang9's stuff getting taken down recently, some of it having been sitting up on their Earth for actually 10years, and i figured i'd have a look. However i feel about horror levels, they were (are still?) a big part of the LBP community pot. i hadn't realized this was going to be a Nightmare on Elm Street level, honestly. i figured it would just be a general horror; but it still wound up working out. The presentation is all solid, both the "real world" and Freddy's boiler room of doom. The house just sitting in an empty create mode was... eh... but, you know, fine? The Freddy costume too, was pretty nice. i would be lying if i said i hadn't had fun wiv this one, but it didn't give me the spoops either, unfortunately.

This one's actually a pretty decent little survival challenge. Nicely presented environment, clearly defined hazard behaviour, parse-able field, and limited, focused mechanics. Of course i played like crud, but i still had fun. i'm pretty sure the idea for my score bubble spawning ghostbulbs came from here, tho' i'd need to check dates to see if it was just a parallel evolution thing.

It was a real disappointment when this one broke, because it's a real good one up to that point. Some very neat bits of grappling hook gameplay, and lots of character to the level; although i would say the reliance on browns and tans, while thematically appropriate, could leave things looking a touch washed out. Also, positive, but the way they had that one bounce pad climbing section timed out so the next train would be right beneath you when you hit the apogee of your jump? Chef's kiss. But then we get to the break, and it just breaks. It feels like a pure physics issue, but... it's weird? Usually, unless the bit has been just set up horribly wrong, leaving the level and trying it again can kind of joggle things a bit? Like, what ever random bits of timing and impact that added up to something not deploying the way it should won't in another circumstance. We saw that back in... i think it was called Golden Chain Reaction? i can't find the episode number right now. Anyway. Like, looking at the video now, and i'm pretty sure those are just regular bolts, so i can't figure why they don't just drop wiv the momentum. The could be spring bolts set too tight, but that feels like something Porkyfern should have noticed? There was one try where the bit was juuuuuust about to swing out enough that gravity should have taken its course, and at the last moment popped right back up again, and i was a little crushed.

i really wound up liking this one. Very straightforward as far as gameplay, but lots of little mechanical interactions, and a good sense of momentum throughout. But what really sells it for me is that great music track, and the implication that the decorative elements are synced to it. i say implication, because i have exactly no rhythm, so i honestly can't judge it on a granular level, but i kinda get it well enough that if you can make a good show of it, i'll usually buy in. i feel like saying Just Shapes and Beats is one of my favourite examples of the genre is a slight on the devs, but i really did love that game, and how they worked the music into things.

This level... Like, presentation-wise, it's a solid example of a common style i've always liked. It doesn't really push it much, but it does it well. The gameplay is pretty fun. i've always liked using the paintinator as a tool for level interactions, as opposed to just going shooty on enemies (also, a lot of creators do a terrible job judging how many hit points enemies should have before it stops being fun, and starts being spongy-boring). Some of it was actually pretty tricky, tho' that felt heavier on the front end, when it should have been on the back. By all rights, very solid high end of mid-tier (i don't mean mid-tier disparagingly here, either; i've found a lot of levels i've really enjoyed that may not be quite polished enough to be top of the pops). But then you get to that level break, and i still don't know what the heck is going on there. chronos says that's a thing that can happen wiv Attract-o-gel, and i trust him on the point, but i've literally never run into it before. And the way it just totally bricks the run if you die there even once. It was just serious weirdsville.

We talked about this Friday, and it's just as awesome now as it was then. Go play Sacklantis.

[ed.'s note: see below the part II video]

i wound up bundling the gameplay levels wiv their respective cutscene counterparts, just to keep the Archive a bit tidier, and because the parts flowed into each other so well (honestly, if i had been xSLEVENx i would have published the second part of each set as a sub-level, so you wouldn't get the scoreboard break in there). That being said, i love these levels. The story is engaging and the character interactions are pretty cute. The robo-buddy as an actual object is quite well put together. The both play very well, wiv a clear, if gentle, difficulty curve; and the presentation... just *mwah*, so good. This is probably just selective perception, and it's definitely anecdotal, but i feel like sci-fi levels tend to go heavier in on visually busy environments, generally to the detriment of presentation. Lots of decorations, lots of heavily textured materials, and it's just so easy to get lost in it all. i feel like it's a hard balance to hit between "this is a recognizable sci-fi place" and "ok, but now i can't tell what's going on," but Obscurity pulls off the whole thing quite deftly, and it was a delight just looking at. Did have a bit of a funny sequence break in the first one, where you can skip a whole chunk of gameplay if you're willing to do it in perfect darkness. i wonder if i still have that b-roll lying around. i have to ditch stuff pretty quick, because the ps4 only has so much space on it.

This one took a lot longer than it should have, because i was trying to read everything, and my Japanese reading ability is, at best, passable; but i really wanted to know if i could get the joke. i guess the joke is... grampas are inherently funny/creepy? Something something maybe it's funny if you have the cultural background? The level itself is fine. Pretty kludgy, but it is an LBP1 meme-level, so that's to be expected. The boss was kind of neat wiv needing to slingshot to hit it, using momentum and physics and all. i mean, it was also a total pain in the ass, but i did appreciate it. Eh... not every Jside level was a winner, even if there was a solid density of great creators.

i really should have bundled all the Neon Dimension levels together, but when i first started the Archive, i felt a little leery about giving too much space all at once to one creator, especially one who is also a good friend. Which, typing that out feels also shitty and unfair to chronos, so... yeah, i just should have bundled them all together. i think of the main ND levels, this one is my favourite. It really nails the whole "level building itself" vibe, and keeps things very visually clean and parse-able. The gameplay is super fun, and the secrets were a nice, neat addition (i did ask chronos some pointers so i could definitely get all of them in the recording, but i'm pretty sure i've found them on my own before. They're well hidden, but not impossibly hidden, which i feel like some creators struggle wiv). i'm honestly a bit shocked this one never picked up a Team Pick, because it is really a super high quality level.

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So that's our ten for this go about. Some real winners in there, if any of the folx reading are still actually playing. Tomorrow's my day off and there's nothing i absolutely have to do, aside from a little editing that i'm going to make a strong go of getting done tonight. There are a few things i probably ought to do, but these last few weeks have been pretty intense emotionally, both in the good ways and the not so good ways (i feel like it's important to let y'all know i do have very good days sometimes, and even the very bad days aren't an all the time thing, they just kinda feel like they are, you know?), and i really want a day were i can just chill. i finally managed to get This Is How You Lose the Time War (it was a whole thing where, i couldn't buy it on my iPhone, but it turns out i could read it on it, but i had to do the actual purchase off my paperwhite for... reasons, i guess? Which meant i had to find where i put the darn thing, and then charge it, 'cause i haven't used it forever because i have the fucking Kindle app on my iPhone <pant, pant, pant>). i'll probably sit down a restart reading it from the start. i like what i've read so far, but reading it in momentary chunks while working the register is maybe not the best way to appreciate what's going on. Or, given the subject matter, maybe it is? It's no good for my absorption or memory, tho', that's for sure.

[risu5waffles]

Thirty TENs Is Better Than One 300.

i'm pretty sure i never expected i would play a sperm in an LBP level, but here we are. Now, i understand the US education system is pretty pants when it comes to health/reproductive ed, but i don't remember them ever mentioning that my doings were full of monsters and strawberries. i feel like someone should have mentioned that at some point. i was ill-served as a child. The level is fantastic, tho'. A delight to look at, even if at times a bit distracting to navigate. Holds together mechanically, as well, which is nice for an LBP1 level wiv so many moving parts. Poms really was a special creator, and i hope they're still getting a chance to put their skills into practice wherever life wound up taking them.

This was a neat little bit of kit; similar in some ways to Trindal's Heart of the Flip-Side we looked at a while back. More broken up into sections, tho'; nothing grand-scale where the whole level is moving. i feel like it makes the actual play a bit better, tho'. A little more thought could be put into making each individual bit work. Also it doesn't feel quite so open-empty, which was a thing in one or two of Flip-side's quadrants. All-around a good time, this one.

i really like how much is done wiv so little in the way of decorations in this one. It's got a really nice look wiv hardly any stickering at all. The level itself is a straight-forward play, nothing that ought to leave anyone feeling confused, and that can be nice sometimes. Another one i feel like i could easily recommend to folx.

This is another real charmer wiv an awful lot going on it it. There's that whole-ass multi-stage boss wiv a weakpoint you actually have to reveal to shoot? Like, i was not expecting any of that when i fired up the level. And the level keeps going after that. Not so much that i was rushing to get it done, but it's definitely a full meal as far as these things go.

A much better take on the theme of music than we got fromm Symphony of Destruction in the last batch. The look of the level is great, and tripleking really worked to make the instruments into platforming elements, even if it made some of the gameplay a touch awkward at times. i've always had a fondness for connectors as purely decorative elements, and it was super-cool seeing winches getting used for guitar strings here. This whole level is just neat.

We talked about this the other day, and it still is exactly what it is. Is that good? Yeah, i think good is a word that could be used here.

This is a updated repub of a level i actually reviewed for Alpi ages back. i'm glad he still has a video of the original (link in the video description), because it's real cool to see them side-by-side. Even tho' it did look good before, the amount of polish in the new version is quite impressive, and really makes it feel like a whole new bit of kit. There's been some tightening on the gameplay as well, and it plays an awful lot smoother. Real good work from a real good creator.

This one's fine. It really is. Definitely very pretty, if a little washed out by the lighting. The underwater bits were good, and don't overstay their welcome. It's all fine. It's just... like, it feels so drifty. There's no real oomph to push you through the level. i wrapped it up, and felt like, "yeah, that was cool, but i'll probably forget it by next month." To be fair, i forget a lot of things in a month's time, so maybe that's not saying all that much.

This was pretty cool. It's nice to see levels that just use the one layer sometimes, as a reminder that that's totally a thing that can be done, and still make for a fun level. The gameplay is a bit run-of-the-mill , but it's fun and keeps it's momentum, and i don't need more than that a lot of times. And it is well put-together, i don't want to give the impression that because it's straight-forward that i think VenomoX was being a slack-ass or anything. The presentation, i feel like it's going to work for you or not. All the stickering can be a bit of a distraction, but i feel like the colours work together well enough in each section that it never got over the top (at least to me). i know the title page mentioned the level had to be shortened some, because the stickers were playing merry hell wiv the thermo, which, yeah, that's a whole thing. i feel like the length is just right for what it needs, tho'.

Honestly, this is not what i wanted the 300th episode to be. i mean, i knew i wanted it to be one of my levels, because... i mean c'mon, it's my own show, i get to indulge myself sometimes. But the nature of the level means it can't really be honestly archived. Most of what i was transferring in the lockbox i'd have no problems sharing, but some of the costumes were things i'd made for folx on stream wiv their input, and it just felt like it would be weird, and rude, to just put those out in the wild for anyone to use? The message as well, like, it's nothing i wouldn't, or haven't, said to those folx in public, but... there's something a little special about receiving something that's just for you, or for you and a small group of others. i don't know. i have a lot of feelings here. At the end of the day tho', i just don't really have any other published levels to share. i mean, there's the ActBot Matsuri one, and that one's fine, but... it's not cherry, you know?

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Damn... just... 300episodes already. You know, i still haven't covered a level from anyone wiv a Q-starting name. i'm starting to think that's just going to be a thing, and i low-key hate it? Y'all know any solid creators wiv names what start wiv Q, you let me know, alright.

i've been plugging away at that alt-account level, and it's almost shocking how smoothly it's been going. i'm doing everything in a no-deco base cardboard build, and i'm going to do material swaps when i do the decoration passes. i'm trying to do as much as i possibly can wiv LBP1-era logic, and that's been a whole trip. i was never one to look down my nose at logic gates and selectors, i love those little buggers, and will always appreciate their addition in LBP2, but... holy shite do i ever love them now. Setting things up wiv actual, physical logic, it's a good workout for my brainmeats, but gods and fish it is such a pain in the arse. It's a fun pain in the arse, but even then. i worked out how to get a winch to switch directions depending on when it was going to be used (basically, the first time you encounter it, you're riding it up, so it needs to reset to down if you die mid-trip; but the next time you're riding it down, so it has to do the reverse). This would be no problem no issue wiv current tech, but when i got it to work here, let me tell you i felt like king shit of turd mountain.

[risu5waffles]

Candy Smokes and TEN Cent Cokes

Just whipsawing through it, aren't we? At least we're on time this go about.

i cannot tell you how palpable my disappointment this wasn't an LBP-tone version of Megdeth's Symphony of Destruction. Which isn't even their best song (i'm fond of Kill the King, but Polaris is pretty darn good. Dawn Patrol for getting a chance to hear asshole Mustaine squeak like a rat), but it still would have been neat. i don't know why, of all the musicians i've stopped listening to because their personal assholery started to outweigh the enjoyment their music brought, Megadeth should slip through the loophole. Like, Mustaine is a certified douchebag, but i'll almost always be down when they show up on random. Weird. The level? Honestly, the level's kind of pants. i mean, i appreciate the work that went into it; but it's pretty drab, and everything being so big, you don't get to really get a feel for running around on sheet music. It's not a bad level, it's just kinda there.

We talked about this last week, and it continues to be great. Picked up a Team Pick, which was no surprise at all. Definitely well deserved.

Exactly what it says on the tin. Low stress, high charm environment. Largely simple gameplay in almost a vignette, minigame style, which is pretty fitting for a fairground setting. i had a lot of fun here, but i feel like it would have been an even better time wiv a party of four. Playing by myself and it did start to feel like it was dragging on just a little bit. The downside of the start-stop action that the format demands. Still, i could definitely recommend this one.

This was actually fairly effective for LBP1-era horror. A lot of work went into making the environment actually function as an environment, instead of something kludgy and slapdash. It wasn't scary, by any means, but it was definitely very cool. The first time i played through, i didn't realize you could save the patient in the operating room until just after they cacked it. So i had to go through a second time, and lost out on my Ace on account of knives in LBP having silly-ass hurtboxes. Ah well, you win some, you lose some, and at least the patient survived. We should all be so lucky.

Oh my gosh, this level gave me so much trouble to get recorded. It was at the height of the most recent round of server trouble, and the dang thing just did not want to load, and when i finally did get it to run, there was a lot of lag in there making the experience more frustrating than it probably ought to have been. In slight fairness to the servers, i have the feeling this one would have chugged a bit even at the best of times, there's a lot going on in here, and i have to imagine it was a bear on the thermo. Still, it's really an impressive bit of kit. The upwards navigation could be a little fiddly at times, but i really appreciated how the whole thing fits together. i'm still a bit wilded by the stained glass windows. i've no idea how Stellakris got those in there.

Cute and clever, if a little bit frustrating, flat world sets up an old-school 2d platformer, and mostly manages to pull it off. The way they had it set-up, where you're basically in a styrofoam box wiv a button on the top, so when you jump, your character "jumps" too (most likely, the button is run into a piston attached to the styrofoam) was really cool. Unfortunately, the level never tells you that's how it's working, so i could see folx getting to the end, and not seeing how to trigger the scoreboard. You're just supposed to walk forward in layer, but i'd have had no idea if i hadn't thought to do a zoom-in wiv the costume camera. A little better communication wiv the player would probably have helped.

There's not really a lot to say about this one. It's fun, i can definitely give it that. Would be more fun wiv another couple of players, but a lot of LBP1 levels are like that. The conceit is well set up as well, like they've actually built in the lodges and lifts and all, instead of just giving you a huge slope and a couple of boards. Straight-forward and fun, and sometimes that's all you really need.

Oh my gosh, this one is so good tho'! Really manages to nail the feel and look of LBP1 level design, not just in presentation (tho' that's fantastic), but in the way a lot of the logic is right there on display for anyone to figure out and use themselves. That's an aspect of the first game that got lost once we moved to more abstract logic tools and microchips to put them in. As much as i love the freedom logic provides from LBP2 on, there's something just nifty as hell to see someone showing their work. The only thing i might call out as a negative here is the level is just a bit too much of a good thing. Like, all of it is great, but it is very le chonk, and it starts to wear on a bit by the end. i've noticed that in a few of Joja28's levels, so it seems to be a creator tic. i can get the feeling, tho'. You've got a ton of ideas, and they all fit a particular theme, and so you cram the whole lot in until it's fit to burst.

We talked about this one yesterday, and it is just as amazing now. It is, shockingly, bereft of Team Pick ribbon status, tho'. What the hey, Sumo? You're just leaving good food on the table.

Woof. This level is... kind of a lot? It wound up being broken, which is a problem. But it also wound up being breakable in two or three spots prior to the final point of failure. The problem being, well, a problem being you've got a couple of spots wiv rockets being thrown at you, which have the side-effect of easily blowing up things the creator probably hadn't intended getting blown up. Like bridges. Ope. Aside from that it's alright. The Gardens 2.0 is always a take i'm interested in seeing, and the idea that things have gotten worse, making the course more difficult is fun. The level kind of sticks to that theme, and there are definitely spots you could point to and say "oh yeah, that bit," before it goes haring off on its own merry way. i wonder if i would have had a better impression of it had i played it closer to release, and in its native environment.

---------------------------------------------- So that's another TEN down. Actually a pretty solid set, and i'd say you could take most of them and put them in your own playlist for an evening in LBP3. i mean you could if we still had lbp.me, i'm never not going to be salty we lost that resource just because someone got their boxers in a bunch and wanted to be a whole jackass.

My vacation's almost over which is fine, i guess? i really need to develop some kind of meatspace life that isn't defined by work, so that when i have actual time off, it doesn't feel so drifty and listless. It only occurred to me after it'd started that had i planned things a little better, i could have set aside a couple-k yen and gone down to Osaka to chill out for a few days. See some friends, hang out in Triangle Park, sleep on the cheap at netcafes. Missed opportunities.

[risu5waffles]

TEN Levels Enter

TEN levels also leave, after having their fill of tea and cakes. C'mon, we're not running the Thunderdome over he-ah.

b-coli's a creator i knew way in the back-and-back, and when he dropped a comment on one of my episodes, it was, like, "oh, yeah! b-coli! Gotta grab one of his." This might not have been the best of the lot, but it was his first, and that's kind of special, isn't it? It's clearly designed for multiplayer, wiv one player handling the driving, and one the shooting, and two sleds for teams. Unfortunately, that does make for a bit more of a slog going through solo. Still, it's got that first level enthusiasm, and i always love to see that.

Talked about this one a little when we talked about Platforming Perils, but it is really, really good. Just enough of a challenge to make you sweat a bit, but not really anything that's going to stress a player out. Like in PP, there are a number of classic, HARD(tm) obstacles in a much more forgiving form, and i could see it being good as learner level for that kind of play.

i don't really get all that invested in how many views any of my episodes get. i've been doing this long enough that if that was a driving force for me, i'd have given up long ago. That being said, sometimes you run into a level that you really want to get eyes on, and the video sits at, like, 4 views forever. i just want to be, like, don't watch it for me, this is actually really cool, you gotta check it out! This is one of those kinds of levels. i was only really familiar wiv yomi-yomi through their association wiv Japan Music Collabo (who you should really check out, they did very solid music in LBP), and one level i played for the old series called "Cooking With Clumsiness." It was, if i may be perfectly honest, kind of shit. Imagine a level completely built wiv no glue, so everything is stacked together like Jenga. It was deeply, deeply frustrating. This one, tho'. It's a bit confusing at the beginning, figuring out just what yomi'd wanted me to do; but once i got the ball rolling, it was hella neat. Tons of little mechanical interactions, which always make my day. There are a few bits where some of the hiragana characters didn't load in, but otherwise, everything seemed to be working no problem. It's all just deeply cool.

i wish so hard that Zookey had set these up to be rideable wiv one player. i can see how that might have been difficult in LBP1, but still. As it is, they look neat, and i'm sure they're fun, but as a gallery level, it winds up feeling a bit lacklustre. At least they made a The Zipper. i used to love The Zipper when i was younger, and sometimes i have a hard time convincing people who've never experienced one that they actually really do (did? are they all gone now?) exist. i swear they're, like, specifically designed to sound like they're going to come unbolted at any second and kill everyone on board. Fucking loved these babies.

Eh. We talked about Rock Fire last Friday, and it continues to be Rock Fire today. Shame that.

i suppose i didn't have to play the full slate of these, but the servers were being a bitch, and i really needed to balance the playlist numbers, and, honestly, i was having a good time wiv them. i really liked the conceit of setting up a discrete set of levels that would all teach one particular gameplay bit, that would all tie together in a final level. The elemental theming was an obvious one to go wiv, and i think the levels pull off the presentation side of that quite well. That being said, i do think actual gameplay side of things wound up a bit lacking, and that was a shame. Like, it would have been easy to string together a number of different sections for each level, and really get the player cozy wiv what you were doing, and also just give a more robust experience to a player who might only bop into one of the levels by chance. As it is, unless you were set from the outset on playing the lot, i don't feel like any of the learning temples really sells the rest of the set. Still, it's interesting to see a creator grasping towards a concept that Sumo would eventually make good on wiv the Adventure Maps in LBP3.

--------------------------------------------- So that's our TEN this go about. i've really enjoyed spending some solid time wiv the real old school stuff these last few weeks. As much as i love LBP1, i probably spent the least time wiv its community levels, so this has been an experience. Once we finally pass episode 300, we'll probably starting seeing TENs weigh more heavily on LBP2 and 3 again. Gonna have to put a sticky note on the telly not to give LBP1 too short a shrift. The levels just get banged so hard by translation, and wiv the servers being a whole thing recently... i really, really hope Sumo gets its shite together, 'cause none of this bodes well.