Nifflas' Support Forum
Temporary => Knytt Stories Level Releases => Topic started by: Shreeps on September 08, 2023, 03:43:29
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Gustav's Retribution is a ridiculously epic RPG type level. Juni is mainly buying powerups from shops. For the first 1/3 it is collecting items for quests and exploring new zones. In the second third the story starts to pick up. Then in the final third it really goes off the rails. Can you help Gustav unlock his closet and stop the evil wizards that threaten to destroy Hazelnut Kingdom???
It is also an entry to Gustav's Contest https://nifflas.lp1.nl/index.php?topic=7364.0 (https://nifflas.lp1.nl/index.php?topic=7364.0) :) Most areas go through a transformation and sometimes multiple as the story progresses. There are probably 900-1100 unique screens.
Included in the world folder is a full version of the spreadsheet quest guide that shows where to get everything. There is a smaller version inside the game in the main city that unlocks more over time.
Shoutouts to StraightFlame for thorough testing this beast of a level and making suggestions to greatly improve it.
Theres a few minor differences in the video walkthrough. Mostly sge or single tile things, not enough to change any of the paths taken. Some of the custom enemies were also switched out when to help reduce lag on screens with several of the same custom enemy. I also changed all the side exit shifts from spot to square.
Download v6: (Oct 5 2023)
https://knyttlevels.com/levels/Shreeps%20-%20Gustav%27s%20Retribution%20v6.knytt.bin
https://mega.nz/file/0KViFYjS#ar3TkjltWHXRGanQ_1oi8CZyFiAAYfb0tIQ725FDfHM
100% Walkthrough:
https://youtu.be/vnoQaScqL74?si=WmvOdQPWviLuvsRI
(https://i.imgur.com/uIjnUqv.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/gdDjZSb.jpg)
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(https://i.imgur.com/XSmGVyA.png)
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(https://i.imgur.com/ZJ2DYpi.png)
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(https://i.imgur.com/Ff9C2tq.jpg)
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Easy void screen found. Once you have the umbrella, you can use the wind to double jump above this screen.
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Found four more bugs. The first one is just an SGE. The second one is a small bit of water at the Knyght's Camp that still kills you even with the snorkel. Of course, there's no reason to enter it in the first place, but this still seems unintentional. The third one is that entering the underwater screen from the screen on the third screenshot doesn't enable the flippers even if you have them. The last one is that I just got 20 creatures and entered the newly accessible room in Gustav's house, only to find nothing but an empty text box. Was I perhaps not meant to go there at this point?
Also, I'm not sure if this actually is a bug, but the guide claims that the lava armor should give me access to a coin and something special in Platinum Meadows, yet I can't find anything that's newly accessible with it. There doesn't seem to be any lava there. And that weird water still kills me. Am I overlooking something?
Furthermore, I really like the idea of having to decide which underwater coins you can handle without access to the flippers. But the problem is that I didn't know for a while that I had the option to leave some of them until I'd get something that would make obtaining them a lot easier. And so I went through horrible suffering obtaining some particularly hard ones with just the snorkel. It would have been very much appreciated if the snorkel merchant had told me that there's someone else who sells further diving gear.
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When i do i revision ill fix these :)
The desert tileset and the one i used for the catacombs don't have double corners though. :(
I had moved around a lot of the powerups and requirements trying to more open up the order in which you can get things and i think thats an area i overlooked (knyghts camp pre consecrate) i always had done consecrate beforehand which should fix the flippers and water for that zone.
On the Quest Guide some of the things require multiple powerups or story events to get them. On those I put the other item behind them & its something I took for granted after playing it so long for that way. I should of put 'need' behind that one and also getting the angel key on the spire, there might be a couple others too. You need to do the astral corruption/cataclysm story event also to get that coin.
Having the npc that sells the snorkel tell you theres also flippers that exist is a good idea. Originally the hobbit village was basically the final shop and meant to be kinda secret/harder to find. thats also why its a separate listing.
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Thanks for the info. Been making a bit more progress. It seems you also didn't prepare Scorian Hollows for the possibility of being entered with lava armor but prior to the consecrate spell. Also, I accidentally ran into a few situations where I managed to wall swim and die upon entering the world map. Maybe I accidentally triple jumped or something like that?
Edit: I just discovered that Echo Grove was reverted to a state where it has no save point. It certainly had one before. I'm currently at the point where the evil wizards appeared all over the place and lots of locations changed their name and appearance.
Edit 2: Going to the right of the screen on the first screenshot sent me to a void screen. I know I could go there in the past. And the second screenshot shows a small cosmetic slime that can move too far to the left. Also, I currently have the golden creature from the Wyrmridon Catacombs, yet the guide still claims I don't.
Edit 3: The third screenshot shows how to access another void screen. Funnily enough, it's inverted.
Edit 4: I now have the second golden creature from the Wyrmridon Catacombs, yet it's also still noted as missing on the guide. That location doesn't seem to get updated anymore. Also noticed two bugs with the defense mission in Penitance Village. It doesn't save when you initiate it. Also, if you complete it and come back, the screen is reverted and offers you to do it again.
Edit 5: The Mount StarFlame defense mission has a spot that allows for a wall swim. At least, I think it does. Wasn't able to pay too much attention due to all the chaos. The next screen seems like it should also allow for wall swims, yet actually properly repositions Juni when she wraps around at too low a spot. But I don't think that happened here. Might be wrong, though. And the screen that initiates the mission also fails to get permanently updated after completion.
Edit 6: The Gulf of Jasper defense mission also gets reverted. Also worth noting that the end game defense missions that award golden creatures can be made much easier by first getting the hologram, to the point where plenty of screens are rendered effortless. Perhaps you should have increased the number of golden creatures required to purchase the hologram so that you have to do all the defense missions first.
Edit 7: The Pumpkin village defense mission also gets reverted. Didn't check Peach Woods, but I think at this point it's relatively safe to assume this applies to all of the end game defense missions.
Edit 8: Yup, same with Mossgate Village.
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And I'm done with the level. A seriously impressive achievement. It's hard to believe you were able to make it in a few months for a contest. The scope is incredible for something like that, yet it's surprisingly polished as well. I really enjoyed untangling the incredibly complex chains of one item leading to another. Impressive custom powerups as well. I thought Reditus with its one custom powerup was impressive, but you managed to improve upon it. I really like most of the visuals and the use of music as well.
Mixed feelings about the challenges. I'm not quite the target audience for this kind of level, since I prefer a somewhat lower level of difficulty. I'm not all that great at KS' core mechanics, so plenty of parts were frustrating. I recognize that many of the challenges I struggled with weren't badly designed, though there are some that I felt were worse than others due to factors such as featuring so many different hazards simultaneously that I couldn't keep track of them all at once, parts that made me feel like relying on RNG was the only option, instances of enemies with poor visibility, or overly long treks between save points that forced me to go through the same screens many times just to get another shot at the part that actually gave me trouble. At the same time, there were also some tough challenges I legitimately enjoyed because I felt that I could learn to master them.
I felt that there was a drop in quality towards the very end, though, with the final parts being too heavy on challenges at the expense of anything else for my liking. And I found it really bizarre that a lot of these challenges rely so heavily on hazards that can be tricked with the hologram, even when the part is reached where you're required to have it. It honestly feels like you designed the level with the assumption that players would only use it for the handful of golden creatures that require it and then never again because plenty of challenges can be outright broken with it. Considering it's not actually needed at any point during the finale, perhaps it would've been better to remove it from the inventory? Though I guess that might have annoyed some, given that they'd have barely gotten to use it at that point. And the idea of fighting the final boss with its flames actually targeting me kind of scares me, considering some phases were already tough even with the hologram. Also, the final challenge sections felt kind of rushed, with them sometimes even re-using the same challenges. And some of the filters were a bit much. I have good eyesight, yet even I occasionally struggled to recognize the sprites amidst the huge messes of pixels. Plus, I got close to getting a light headache.
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The shifts in the game can be kinda off if you have too much momentum or are in between them when you shift so my solution to that was to just kill you Lol. But its better than getting stuck out of the map.
The Eternal Annihlation part is meant to be more of a falling action/winding down part after the climax. At least i find it to be a little more relaxing in that way. You can get into a flow state just dodging without having to think too hard some but screens could be shortened and toned down a bit.
There's no way to check for the flags of individual GC's & I didnt realize this until I had already picked the spots for everything and the GC gates. It wouldve been better to put coins for the invasions instead of GC. This is also why the Cata GC guy who pops up and the chomper remain on quest guide, as the chomper teeth alone are really hard to see so i posted them as part of the tileset.
You also need holo to be able to get the final 2 GC. The invasions should go away when you begin the finale though if you choose to go back to those zones. There are some wallswims with warping in the invasions and epiloge but also invis shifts that send you back up above the ground.
Im also glad that since you were able to finish, getting lava armor so early didnt break anything badly. I think Im going to move the ingot from Lum Haven to Consecrated Cemetery and that will fix lava armor/Scorian.
Yeah I didn't want to remove the holo from the player as soon as they got it and basically they can choose whether they want the extra challenge to use it or not as it can get pretty lunatic without it. I also like how powerful you feel by the end with it. I tried to do as much as i could in the video playthrough without it to show its possible but used it on a few screens cause it was taking so long. I would rather err on the side of it being a little cheesable than people not being able to finish it especially cause the last release of Azure came out way too hard and I wanted to avoid that this time.
Do you remember some of the parts that were the most frustrating and/or in need of saves?
I can fine tune them a bit for the revision and fix the echo grove ones and going to add another one there.
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When it comes to particularly frustrating parts, I'm afraid I didn't really keep track. Let me see what I can remember.
Some of the underwater parts were the worst, but those could be resolved just by letting the player know they can make some of them easier by waiting until they have the flippers.
I remember getting stuck for a fair while on that secret at the Old Turt Pond that's behind a secret passage at the red spitting flower.
From what I recall, I think I found Lace Citadel to have the hardest of the defense missions (the one where you have to stay in the air). Though it's possible I just wasn't in the right state of mind at the time I did it.
The library was an annoying location. Not super difficult, but I never really got the hang of how to navigate it, so I always had to brute-force my way through. I also hated how my first visit there turned out to be pointless, since I didn't have the prerequisites. So I had to go through the whole thing a second time later on.
The feather in Rosecore gave me a really hard time because I had to go through an unusually long stretch of challenges with no save points. The way back in particular took a while. I don't think any of the individual challenges there were all that bad. It was just nerve-wracking having to make it through this many without dying.
And I think the last phase of the second battle with that Knytt with the block gimmick was probably the hardest of all the boss phases. All I could really come up with was to try similar routes far above the ground (to avoid the monster that shoots fire at you) over and over again while praying that the RNG sends the bullets somewhere where I'll manage to dodge them. Holding the button long enough usually worked out fine, but it was also annoying because it always delayed me until I could tackle the real meat of the challenge again.
I think those two GCs are the only things that require the hologram at all. So it feels rather underutilized. I can understand wanting to offer it as an optional method to make the finale easier (especially as someone who isn't too good at these kinds of challenges herself), but some screens don't feel like they were designed with the assumption that the player might use the hologram at all. There are plenty of defense mission phases in particular that become completely effortless with it. I say this as someone who never made a level of her own, but I think the best way to make challenges with the hologram in mind would probably be to design them so that they can be made easier with it, but only through skillful use. Such as when your starting position causes flames to be shot at you at an inconvenient angle, so to properly neutralize them, you first need to reach a better position and create the hologram there. There were a few challenges like that, but most just involved me pressing W right at the beginning to either cut the difficulty in half or reduce it to zero.
I guess I can get behind the idea of the last defense missions serving as falling action (I certainly wouldn't have wanted them to be comparable in difficulty to the final boss). I just think that they were rather repetitive. Re-using the same screens multiple times is what made them feel rushed to me.
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I put out a v2 Revision and it's mostly quality of life stuff to help reduce frustration and a few general fixes.
https://knyttlevels.com/levels/Shreeps%20-%20Gustav%27s%20Retribution%20v2.knytt.bin
I was kinda rushing through invasions at the end to try and meet the original deadline while it was still in effect not gonna lie XD I did decide to add the Eternal Annihilation section though because the original deadline got extended. Also one of the reasons I used the side shooters A LOT in the invasions and finale is because they don't care if youre holo or not.
The most noteworthy changes for v2: (Possible Spoilers)
-Fixed a few void screens and sges. Not the double corner ones though Lol.
-Echo Grove/Scarlet Hillside/Turt Pond should keep its Consecration saves after Astral Corruption. They currently disappear and don't come back till late game. I think it was a problem with just these zones because Astral Corruption (Which resets many flags) doesnt change these zones. Might not actually be a problem for Scarlet but is very annoying for the other 2 and wasnt intended. Swamp also doesn't get changed but it doesn't have Consecrate saves.
-Most zones had a nonconditional save added to every version of its map (a few get 2-3) or moved to a slightly more convenient spot (like Amberleaf).
-Rosecore tunnel to feather added a couple saves.
-Snorkel and Flippers should work at Knyght's Camp pre-consecrate.
-Swamp merchant in Mossgate let's you know there is a secret shop with flippers after you buy snorkel.
-Platinum Field coin 96 should also say 'Need' on the astral corruption icon behind it on 2nd Quest Guide. Same with Sky Valour Spire items needing Angel Key to access.
-Bus Pass, Disable Trap, and Fans repair icons Taken off 2nd version of Quest Guide after you get eye. (These are all required to get to this point)
-Bus Pass, Disable Trap, Fans repair, consecrate, assault tents, astral corruption icons Taken off 3rd version of Quest Guide after astral corruption. (These are all required to get to this point)
-Ingot 7 from Luminous moved to end of Cemetery, therefore Consecrate is now required to be able to get Lava Armor. And you can no longer get to pre-consecrate Scorian with Lava Armor.
-Lava armor icon added to Quest Guide, Torment Village under Flippers with 'Need' Consecrate behind it. (forgot lava armor icon in v1)
-Sand Ditch eye required warp (when you also have Lava Armor) fixed
-A few screens during the town invasions and Eternal Annihilation had their timers reduced, 15s >12s and 12s >10s. A few screens during Eternal Annihlation enemies added or changed.
-Lacewing Skies added 1 more block to screens in first half, 2 blocks to 2nd half. For more leeway. Also fixed a possible void.
-Turt Pond room with GC redesign
-Bulwark Rohda final screen the button changed from green to red, but moved closer to center of screen instead of where you spawn. A few more blocks taken out on this screen and across the fight . (The beta originally had a purple block on almost every tile and a guy shooting from the top of the screen XD)
-Forbidden Archives has a path of blue flames you can follow to get to the top more consistently, (You don't have to follow it and it's not the quickest but it's simple) and the mage ally informs you as such at the Wizard Castle entrance. (Following the Red Flames take you back out)
-Fixed a void accessable using the Archives - Lace Citadel warp during mid-game.
-Added and corrected a few things in credits and Realigned a few things. (mostly redundant)
-Level is now 'large' instead of medium
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The guide claims the double jump powerup is necessary to get the 26th coin in Hazelnut City, yet I managed to get it without it.
Edit: I never really got the design of this screen. Its golden creature doesn't look like it can be obtained before getting the double jump powerup. Yet once you have that, you can skip all the other enemies and get it effortlessly. So what's their point? Can you actually get the creature earlier? And even if you could, why would you? It would be pretty tough, and you can instead get the easier golden creature from Echo Grove to enter Paladin Temple.
Edit 2: The newly added save in the underground part of Silverwood Cemetery only exists until you get rid of the spikes, making its usefulness rather limited.
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You shouldn't 'need' DJ to get coin 26 you just need Sneak. It also happens that you need sneak to be able to get enough coins to buy DJ in Hazelnut so those 2 occupy the same spot, without the 'need' label though.
The design of that screen is basically a relic of very early on when I was still indecisive if I wanted to use that screen for a GC or not and what to require to get it. So now it's just intended that it requires DJ while the creatures might just kind of annoy you if you go that way to get the eye required coin. You can't reach it before DJ that I know of. You're meant to only be able to get the Echo Grove one to start Paladin Temple.
StraightFlame thought that screen was weird too XD
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Just noticed that this screen has some slightly visible tile edges where the siege machinery is. Probably some sort of accident.
Edit: Okay, this part right here never made sense to me. Why do you have to go through an extra challenge just to reach a dead end with nothing but an NPC warning you not to proceed on the other path?
Edit 2: The guide claims that it's possible to get the 43th coin in Platinum Meadows with just the umbrella. Can it really be done without the eye?
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The siege machine tiles weird me out too I don't know why they do that, I can't seem to pin it down. Maybe its how that specific tileset file was compressed or exported or something?
That NPC is meant to dissuade you from trying to go up the hillside before you do Consecrate. But I am not a great communicator Lol. If you return to that after consecrate later on there should be a tent with a save point. And another one higher up the mountain.
You can get coin43 without eye in platinum but it is a very tight jump. You have to put away the umbrella when jumping to get the extra height. The eye makes it easier.
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Yeah, I just noticed the added save point in what's originally an empty screen as well. So I guess it eventually gets a purpose.
Also, Gustav's fan gets disabled again after the Astral Corruption occurs. Is that intentional? I remember it starts working again eventually. Not that it serves any purpose once you have his candle.
Edit: Did you mean to place the bird on the screenshot a tile lower?
Edit 2: There's a new save point in the Wood of Meditation that disappears once it becomes the Peach Woods.
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I did mean to have the bird in that tree. Hes there when its Knyghts camp and abandoned camp but leaves after the fight with Bella.
The thing with Gustavs fans was not intentional though Lol. I think i copied Gustavs room at a time i was still undecided on where Fans/Lasers/Flippers were all going. It will turn off after astral corruption and turn back on after Angel Key.
I forgot to add the save to the snorkel version of peach woods, i think i put it on the
non swimmable version only
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Is the lava supposed to only be transparent on the surface once you have the lava armor?
Edit: I think Pumpkin Dungeon and the underwater section near the end of Pumpkin Village could both benefit from having a save point near their final challenge. Both of those are by far the hardest parts of getting their items (the underwater one in particular is tough even with the flippers), but they require a fair bit of backtracking whenever you die.
Edit 2: The Lace Citadel fan got disabled again as well. Sure glad I don't need it anymore. Can you actually screw yourself over through this bug?
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v3: https://knyttlevels.com/levels/Shreeps%20-%20Gustav%27s%20Retribution%20v3.knytt.bin
I don't think the fans reset can screw you over. The candles you have to get from the fan repair are all on the 1st versions of the maps. (You have to get them before this Flag resets) I checked the wall GC30 and it doesnt have a flag check if you go to get it after Luminous turns into Crystalline Infection. It should just always have its fan on in all versions after astral.
The lava blocks look strange. I adjusted them slightly so they would match colors in Scorian but I cant figure out why they would vary so much from zone to zone. Some unique glow from the lava object maybe?
v3 patch notes:
-Lit Knob fixed the roman siege tileset by anyndel.
-Added Lit Knob to Torment credits, changed torment credits screen to siege.
-Fixed tippy top to catapults in Torment Village.
-Penitence spelling fixed across game from 'Penitance'
-Autosave when starting Penitence Village invasion
-Fixed floating plant insect thing in scarlet
-Save in Silverwood Cemetery (that reappears after consecrate) should no longer disappear after getting sneak.
-Save added save to Meditations/peach woods lake should no longer disappear
-Saves added to Pumpkin Dungeon and underwater section.
-For all you corner lovers out there got something special :) Double corner fixed, added to redding tileset and used in Valley of Rust/Dust
-Fixed some corners in Pink Catcombs with double corners tiles, and 1 in the finale but not all of them. There is not enough tiles to cover every variation. and I think they didnt stand out as much as the Valley of Rust corners. Didnt feel like making a new tileset also Lol.
-Gustavs fan will say its turned off if you return to Gustav's farm after Astral Corruption without flag 3. Lace Citadel fan should stay on after Astral Corruption.
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Penitence Village's fan also got disabled. Still using V2, but I'll update my version now.
Edit: I think the path from Scorian Hollows to Rosecore is a bit disproportionately difficult with the current amount of save points, given that some of the challenges are rather unpredictable. I made it through there reasonably quickly, but only through a very close call at the end. I could easily have seen that part taking a lot longer. I think the parts of Rosecore leading to the cave where you get the feather are a bit low on save points as well. (At least coming from the left. Didn't try going there from the right.) Nothing there is particularly tough, but you have to get through a lot of ground to find the entrance. Other parts of Rosecore are easier to traverse. I'm not surprised I failed to realize the cave even existed on my first visit during my earlier playthrough. Though the cave itself has indeed gotten more manageable.
Edit 2: This guy can walk too far to the left.
Edit 3: Okay, turns out reaching the cave from the right is actually quite easy. It's just the part to the left of it that has an unusually long stretch of challenges without save points.
Edit 4: So what exactly is the point of this huge stack of sand blocks if you can just dive down to the left of it? Does it actually block anything? (Edit to the edit: I just realized the sand blocks still let the projectiles from the plant to the right pass, so perhaps that was your intention?)
Edit 5: There are a few screens where you seem to have placed more enemies of certain types than KS seems capable of handling, resulting in some of them hardly ever attacking. My screenshot shows one such screen, but I ran into a similar one on the path from Scorian Hollows to Rosecore.
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I see the Alabaster Woods version of this screen from the Old Turt Pond still has the red (or should I say cyan) flower you replaced in the original. Not that it poses much of a threat here, seeing how there's no secret passage in this version. It's just inconsistent.
Edit: Okay, this right here was probably the hardest challenge I faced on this playthrough so far outside of perhaps the phase of the Nyx boss battle with five blocks. Perhaps some people can actually keep track of this many unpredictable projectiles at once, but I can only really brute-force my way through this screen, which works maybe 5% of the time. Wouldn't have been that bad if there wasn't another challenge right after it that was still hard enough to take at least a couple of attempts.
Edit 2: The underwater tiles in Eclipse Falls don't seem to kill you even without the radiation suit.
Edit 3: I guess the final phase of the Moon Lord's trial wasn't really one of the toughest challenges I faced, but I don't really get what I was supposed to do there. All I could do was open my umbrella, go wherever the fewest birds are and pray that none of their projectiles fly low enough to hit me. Is there an actual strategy one can pursue here?
Edit 4: Minor nitpick, but it feels a bit weird that going to the left here wraps you around to the right end of the screen. From Juni's perspective, she's below a building that suddenly disappears.
Edit 5: Okay, I'm pretty sure these tiles up there weren't the ones you meant to use, right?
Edit 6: Flying too far to the left in Rosecore sends you to a void screen.
Edit 7: I only just noticed it, but the main gradient of Rosecore looks pretty weird upon closer inspection. Like it was aggressively compressed.
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What exactly is the purpose of that screen at the left end of the Celestial Oasis? You have to go through some challenges to get there if you don't have the Angel Cape, yet there doesn't seem to be anything there.
Edit: Are there supposed to be lasers on that screen at this stage? I thought the hobbit engineering disabled all of the non-timed ones.
Edit 2: Most of the phases of the Sky Kingdom defense mission had an unusually low level of difficulty, with some even featuring blind spots that offered reliable protection against all attacks.
Edit 3: Is that angel supposed to keep saying this even after the attack on the Sky Kingdom happened?
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I noticed there's camel walking on air in one of behind the lava areas. I still have the first released version of level and I found out it's possible to get into that area with lava suit and the lava acts like you already had flippers but maybe you fixed that already.
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I noticed there's camel walking on air in one of behind the lava areas. I still have the first released version of level and I found out it's possible to get into that area with lava suit and the lava acts like you already had flippers but maybe you fixed that already.
Beat you to the punch by a few hours with reporting the camel rider.
V2 moved back the point where the lava suit can be unlocked. One of the iron ingots now requires the flippers.
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The Penitence Village fan gets submerged in the weird crystal water and stops working.
The sand blocks make you need shovel to get that coin in the early game. After astral corruption I added a screen below but you cant get back out so I just removed that column of sand. I changed one of the enemies on the feather screen to the faster shooter.
The stuff on the left of oasis is just for scenery. I thought about putting an item there but it would be too easy to get with cape.
the laser on oasis i think could be bad and screw you over. I made a cape and non cape version of that one when i still wasnt sure if engineering would be required to get cape. that flag4 gets turned off when buying visor barrier on the moon. but it looks like i came back and removed the wrong version because I had the 7th layer turned off often on the editor.
I didnt want to make another pointless screen on sky kingdom Lol. it does feel funny though.
The steppes weird tiles showed up that way cause i wrote over the moon that was there on the copied screen with blank ones on the siege set lol. removed them from all 3 versions of that map
The properties of the spring water block the radiation :) hehe
I have done that screen with the moonlord final screen by staying on the ground and just reaction speed basically. I moved them so they start closer together though.
that dialogue still kind of applies cause they havent fought xethiz himself yet.
It should take flippers to get ingot 4 in swamp then consecrate to get ingot 7 in cemetery now to get lava armor. Are you able to get 4 without flippers?? I cant do that jump with only water breathing.
v4
https://knyttlevels.com/levels/Shreeps%20-%20Gustav%27s%20Retribution%20v4.knytt.bin
-Lit Knob fixed Gradient 7 in Rosecore
-fixed Floating camel by Rosecore tunnel
-fixed gc34 in eventide (important)
-Added a save to underlava tunnel in scorian. and a couple on surface rosecore
-added warp object to top left screen of rosecore
-swapped disc that shoots gravity projectiles in spire to the one that only shoots up, short range.
-added enemies to a couple screens on sky kingdom invasion
gonna chill on updates for a bit, unless there is something really bad comes up like GC34
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SPOILERS BELOW. Played the first version, or whatever's on knyttlevels:
Wow! I was not expecting that storyline and such a massive level. Each location is unique and replayable on their own, and seeing the entire world change (with new location names too) was shockingly cool. The quest guide was a fantastic QoL addition and made the experience 1000% more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. I also enjoyed the city hub which made connecting to the different branches easier. The dream world was *chefs kiss*.
Small nitpicks:
The Quest Guide is great for coins and golden creatures, but would have benefited from a key for the other things, especially the top row (power-ups I've bought / events). AFAIK, there's no indication which powerups have been bought on this screen, or what they do if one forgets after buying them (which helps knowing where to explore in the levels). The build/defend icons don't seem to disappear after completing them, among other things. There's also multiple watch/golden scissors/etc. icons on the guide which I still don't fully understand.
I think you mentioned some collectables needing multiple powerups (hence the NEED descriptions). These should just go in the column of the latter powerup, assuming powerups can only be unlocked linearly.
Without a world-map info screen, it can be easy to forget where various sub-levels are (Hobbit, Spire, Roseholm, Archives, etc.)
Playing the game over multiple days, I would sometimes forget where to visit next to advance the story. It sort of works itself out by being tied to buying things in the shop, but not always.
Basically, I'm envisioning a more comprehensive info center in the city. "Here's a screen with all of the powerup names/descriptions/lore that you've unlocked." "Here's a world map with the names of every place visible on one screen w/ shop locations" "Here's a hint of where to visit next story-wise e.g. mechanic similar to the old lady in A Knytt in Time(?)".
IIRC, the golden creature gates (XL, L, etc.) gave no wiggle room if there was one or two creatures you couldn't find even knowing where they were. Some lee-way would have been nice.
There were too many (long) boss fights for my taste. From memory, there's 20+ fights with 8+ phases each that border on very-hard / lunatic projectile spam at times. I found myself using invuln. at times from sheer difficulty or repetitiveness. The finale portals especially suffered from this.
I found myself wanting to explore the map after beating the game (autosave prevents this), but it makes sense thematically that the ending is a point of no return.
TL;DR: Loved it. My nitpicks can be summarized as "git gud, you don't need your hand held".
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I'm not too fond of the boss fights myself for the most part, but you did remember that you have the hologram in the end game, right? That makes the last ones notably easier.
I think some of your complaints regarding the quest guide might be worth looking into but others probably aren't really possible to rectify. The images behind the collectables that show additional prerequisites are part of the background, so they don't automatically disappear. If they're the only thing that's left in a cell, that means you already got its collectable and can ignore it.
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In the middle a lot of the powerups/events are non-linear. Its theoretically possible to have the icons for the coins and story items disappear but it would take so many screens to account for all the combinations it would probably be more complicated than the entire level XD. Not possible for the GC's though as they don't have flags.
In the next version I will come up with something to give you more info for the items that dont show up in your regular inventory. Hints where to get it and where to use it depending on how what it is or how far you are. It will have to be a different screen for each item though.
The boss fights in this are a lot easier than the last ones I did lol, and you can hologram through the finale. (The Salty Seas the original insane difficult versions are in this video https://youtu.be/sSXORE9ubqg?si=CJlBcLey4uoWIPlJ ) Knytt isn't that great for boss fights and I think moving forward theyre better as some kind of 'event' or kept shorter other than finales :)
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Reached XL so far. What a level this is...
Love how the story progresses through increments of powerups. Love how KS+ features are put on their best behavior : lots of titles/subtitles, lots of cool OCOs, and the most extreme case of flag/coinflag utilization.
After opening the guide for the first time, I could not stop going back to it a million more times and then having enough back and forths... took screenshots, it was the only way for me to advance swiftly (but then again ...) Crossed the turtle bridge too many times to keep a proper count. X-P
Took some time to figure out the layout of the city, some indicators could have greatly helped to know which of the 6 exits it is... something like 1 colored bloc, or a 6 dots face of a D6 in which one dot is colored to indicate the exit position, that was more or less the mental image I built up.
My most enjoyable parts is the suitable amount of difficulty there is during the conflicts and the 1 screen secrets as long as the save is not too far away.
What I disliked was the moments when the next powerup required a lot of unclaimed collectibles, it's either back to every single zone visited, or one more peek to the guide.
Overall it's really hard to keep a proper flow compared to a more linear level. And at some point you know you'll be coming back to that place where something was just out of reach, but forgetting about it because there's so much to keep track of.
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After opening the guide for the first time, I could not stop going back to it a million more times and then having enough back and forths... took screenshots, it was the only way for me to advance swiftly (but then again ...) Crossed the turtle bridge too many times to keep a proper count. X-P
In case you didn't know, there is an external version of the guide available in the level data as a single image. Of course, that one doesn't remove the things you already got.
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I watched a bit of footage of the last boss in that Salty Seas video. That does indeed look scary. Especially when the boss seems to flood the screen with projectiles at seemingly random intervals. Is there even a reliable way to deal with that? Do you plan to tone down the difficulty of such bosses in the future? I was looking forward to your Azure Serenity remake if it ever gets finished, but if it has such brutal challenges on a regular basis, I may have to give it a pass.
Also, regarding the cosmetic screen at the Celestial Oasis, I wouldn't normally take issue with it were it not for the fact that you have to go through a non-trivial challenge to get there unless you have the angel cape. It's still not exactly hard, but a walking palm tree strikes me as a bit too strong of an enemy to use on a route that's just a red herring.
I'll try to wrap up my second playthrough now. Is there anything that could go wrong if you end up releasing V5 before I'm done and I switch to it?
Edit: The second bus trip has some screen transitions that frequently result in brief wallswims. Also, minor nitpick again, but this NPC still says this line after you successfully fended off the attack through the second bus trip.
Edit 2: The end of the Paladin Temple has a screen that's supposed to visually connect the area with the Lunar Steppes. That's a nice touch, but it doesn't get updated when that area becomes Mount StarFlame.
Edit 3: So I seem to have gotten stuck. I'm in the last phase of the Mount StarFlame defense mission, and it doesn't end even when the time runs out. I reached that point twice. Also, I was going to save this until I'm done with all of the near-end game's defense missions, but I think they could use a second pass. Some of them have an appropriate level of difficulty, but others have either total blind spots where nothing can hurt you or at least spots where you can reduce the amount of attacks that can hit you to a point where dodging them no longer poses much of a challenge. The Gulf of Jasper mission in particular has plenty of screens where only the evil wizards can hit you in the air, so you can just fly to the invisible ceiling and cross the edge of the screen every time they shoot at you.
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Those bosses are a lot easier now and I probably won't do them that hard again in the future unless there is an alternative way to deal with them.
I don't know if anything could go wrong badly, you can restart the quintet fight over and over if you go back after the climax begins Lol. I dont think it breaks anything though just a loop.
I want the sunset village to have the sun background. I don't think there is any way to fix the bus wallswims but I made those screens loop so I think worse case you just fall from the sky? Lol.
I'll do another pass over the invasions though and try to make them all absolute target shifts instead of relative
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When it comes to the Sunset Village, I wasn't referring to the background, but rather the tiles on the right. They're still blue, even though their counterparts in the Lunar Steppes turn green when that place becomes Mount StarFlame.
Just to make sure since you didn't address it, you are aware that I ran into what seems to be a game-breaking bug, right? I don't seem to be able to finish the last phase of Mount StarFlame's defense mission. Nothing happens when the time limit runs out. So I'm stuck on that screen now.
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The timer doesnt start until you touch the shifts and where you start on the screen probably becomes off at certain points.
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Change the difficulty to lunatic. I saw Anton play the final portion. There's no way around it. Lunatic. <3
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Change the difficulty to lunatic. I saw Anton play the final portion. There's no way around it. Lunatic. <3
Did Anton make full use of the hologram in the end game? I did, and it lowered the difficulty enough that I'd argue even the toughest parts of the end game don't quite exceed what I'd call very hard.
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Shreeps saw how I handled the endgame, I started not using holo, then used it as a green button checkpoint, then used it more and more as my patience was running dry in the last parts.
Overall, it's pretty hard, some luck is required on top of solid execution at times, but it's the randomness that kept me going, telling me that I can have better opportunities.
On the topic of lunatic diff, the level "The Safety Sequal" by SecretGlitch made me quit on the second challenge screen of each of the 2 routes, there was no possibilty of lucking things out and demanded way too much skill that I could not provide.
I would also consider 50 regular creatures to be the lunatic side with its extreme RNG fest, even with the save.
This level though ? "very hard" is reasonable to me. Obviously requires a lot from the player, but at no point I thought things were hopeless.
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The quest guide now helps you keep track of power ups and story events completed that don't show up in your inventory if you keep going right. (Hit down to exit)
The quest guide billboard in game now also tells you it's in level's world folder
Got rid of npc with empty speech bubble on scarlet hillside in late game
You can now return to before the climax starts after finishing the level. (Before fighting Quintet)
The inside of Altar is Xethiz is now empty if you try to go back during the finale. (instead of the neverending loop lol)
fixed floating turtles on turt bridge
fixed Valley of Dust tents background sge
Invasions now use absolute target shifts on all screens (so the actual timer to teleport you to the next screen should always start properly. Not the hourglass timer.)
Added enemies to a few invasion screens (overall slightly harder), removed more critters from more invasion screens to help with lag/clutter. Should be harder to find 100% always safe spots on many screens.
added more enemies to the late game versions of some areas
castle assault coin97 should no longer hide behind the tent icon on the 2nd version of quest guide
changed it to Hard, Very Hard, Lunatic. It can be lunatic but mostly just the late game and the finale if you don't use holo. Final screen of the game is pretty tough though regardless. Also this might be more in line with the recent slight increased difficulty in invasions and late game.
The steppes/starflame is blue but gets a tint when it becomes starflame. only the underwater part of that zone is really green. havent added the tint to sunset village outside paladin temple
current known issue: in the new inventory section barrier visor shows up as acquired if you don't have hobbit engineering before you do astral corruption in the 3rd version of quest guide
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Nice. Will check it out at some point. Regarding Sunset Village, perhaps it would theoretically be possible to have that screen use a version of the Mount StarFlame tileset that has the filter baked into it? I don't blame you if that's too much work for such a minor cosmetic alteration, though.
Edit: I think the first bus trip could benefit from a save halfway through. The second half is notably harder, so it's a bit annoying you always have to repeat the slow, yet easy first half when you die. Didn't notice it much the last time, but I died a few times on this playthrough.
Also, the semi-final phase of the Paladin Temple recapture mission has a shining orb where its green button is, yet the final one doesn't. IIRC, the earlier ones didn't have those either, so that seems like an accident.
Edit 2: Why is the Flowering Swamp named Swamps in the guide. If there's only one swamp there, shouldn't it just be called Swamp?
Edit 3: Lacewing Skies has certainly become easier to handle compared to my first playthrough, but there are two phases that stick out as notably harder than what comes after them. The first phase with the side shooters is tough because most of the blocks are placed in the middle. Side shooters are significantly easier to dodge at either a short or long distance, so being forced to spend most of the time at the distance where they're at their most dangerous isn't easy. I actually found the later side shooter phase notably less challenging because it allowed me to spend more time near the edges of the screen. The other difficulty spike is the phase that introduces black birds. I think the time limit is a bit too high. There are enough blocks, but dodging this many homing projectiles for 15 seconds is tricky. I often died a few seconds short.
Edit 4: Is the underground part near the beginning of Silverwood Cemetery still supposed to not be fully illuminated when I have all seven candles? I understand that the dungeon to the right is that way, since it's so dark it requires all seven candles to be traversed at all, but that mini dungeon at the beginning doesn't have that restriction.
Edit 5: Is there really a point in Scarlet Hillside still having the girl who warns you against climbing to the top after the consecration spell has been cast? I assume her purpose is simply to discourage people from going there before the additional save points are there, so why is she still present at the point where you actually should go there?
Edit 6: Found an incorrect tile in the Sand Ditch.
Edit 7: Is Autumn Village supposed to have some destroyed buildings in the distant background even before it actually gets destroyed?
Edit 8: This spot and the one to the right in the Valley of Dust don't seem to allow diving by simply pressing down. Instead, I need to also press the jump button. (Side note: The challenge below this was what almost broke me during my first playthrough. I'm truly glad I now know I can postpone it until I have the flippers because I'd have never replayed this level if it meant doing this challenge with just the snorkel again. It's totally doable with the flippers, but nigh-impossible without them.)
Edit 9: It would be a bit more convenient if the evil wizard tents also saved your game when leaving them. I like to use them as additional save spots, but when there's something inside of them, I always have to enter and leave them an additional time just to make my save include the item I just got. It's not big deal. Just a bit annoying.
Also, there are some occasions where saves on the world map don't place you directly at the location where you died, but right next to it. I understand why these particular saves work this way, but it confuses my muscle memory. A few times, I ended up moving to another location and back first just to make a more convenient world map save.
Edit 10: When I jump on this ledge from below and keep walking, I sometimes end up falling down a tile automatically. Seems the diving mechanic doesn't quite work right here. Not that it's a big deal in this case.
Edit 11: You can't swim above this bank even with the flippers.
Edit 12: You can dive below this spot and start wall-swimming.
Edit 13: I just noticed that the full guide image still claims there's an ingot in Luminous Haven. Wasn't that moved to the Consecrated Cemetery? There are now eight ingots in that image.
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The last enemy on this screen hardly ever shoots. It's kind of nerve-wracking getting past it. It usually works, but I can't predict its timing, so I don't know when it'll shoot unless I wait for the rare occasion that it actually does.
Edit: Okay, this is a big one. On my current playthrough, I'm aiming to delay the Astral Cataclysm as long as possible. So I went to the Rosecore early. IIRC, the shop there only sold the Dream Sphere, so I bought it. But the level doesn't seem to have been prepared for this possibility. I used the portal, but it later disappeared again from Scorian Hollows. Furthermore, I only tested the Dream Water in Grassland Vale so far, but it still kills me. And the guide doesn't even list the Dream Sphere, except as an item in the Rosecore that it believes I'm still missing.
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I think I'm just going to have the rosecore shop closed until after Astral. The scissors shares the flag with bus pass and that and Dream Sphere really have no use until after astral. I don't remember actually having any dream water pre-astral. The Glassland vale has Crystal water but it and eventide/catacombs water gets changed to dream water after astral. I dont think it can softlock but people could get confused why theres no scissors and not know when to come back later to get them and no point letting people waste the coins on dream sphere so early.
Having the level autosave when exiting the tents was how it worked for a bit right before release but i changed it back. Because of how the flag shifts work if you exit a tent and die it will place you back in the pre-astral or non-cape versions of those zones even if you have those. Sometimes if you ctrl r yourself on the world map it can zone you back to the pre-astral map too. It should fix though upon actually entering the zone or moving to a different zone on the map. Also not sure if I can
always have it save directly on the exact tiles due to 3 shift limits.
The cemetery insides dont get fully lit until after consecrate.
the autumn village background came that way on the tiles but becomes even more destroyed after astral. Lol.
Everything else > next version
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Oh right. I forgot there was a difference between crystal water and dream water. Yeah, I guess in that case, the only things that aren't behaving correctly are that the warp between Scorian Hollows and the Rosecore doesn't stay, that the scissors are falsely believed to have been bought already (even if they would be useless this early) and that the Dream Sphere doesn't disappear from the guide. Since it doesn't actually serve a purpose before the Astral Cataclysm, I guess it's not necessary for the guide to explain what it does.
That said, if you're going to make the Rosecore shop closed until the Astral Cataclysm happens, won't that mean there'll be no warp there? If I understand its shopkeeper correctly, the warp won't appear before you buy something there. Is it only the Scorian Hollows side that's not meant to stay before that? Or would you actually have to backtrack all the way out of the Rosecore if you can't buy anything?
On a side note, I guess it would be weird from a storytelling perspective if you were to obtain all of the Angel Feathers before meeting the goddess. Is that currently possible? If yes, perhaps it would make sense for meeting her to be necessary to access the Rosecore? After all, she's the one who asks you to go there.
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The exit portal from Rosecore should always be there unconditionally. I don't think it's possible to backtrack out except through that portal until you have the cape.
The catacomb water actually turns crystal not dream. So you would need to at least meet the Angel after Nyx and get the Ring from Angel Shoppe for the feather in Catacombs and to go to the Spire for the last feather from winning the tournament.
I think since the Scorian map changes upon Consecrate not Astral I had to set it so you need buy Dream Sphere and have Astral to open the portal. I could only set it so you need Scissors+DreamSphere+Astral, or Dream Sphere+Astral otherwise the portal at the start of Scorian would already be open to Rosecore as soon as it changes from Consecrate but before doing Astral. But I think I can change it so the Flag 1 resets (Since Bus Pass only has one spot I can think of) upon doing consecrate instead of Astral like it does currently that way you only have to buy the Scissors+Astral (cheaper) to open the portal shortcut instead of Sphere+Astral or Sphere+Scissors+Astral.
It might be best to have the Rosecore shop be locked until after Nyx as that is the only way to guarantee that 'Act XII' always shows up for everyone. It only shows up after beating Nyx and entering Rosecore but if you were to have already bought the Scissors before then but after Astral Act XII wouldn't show up upon entering Rosecore again. Plus it gives at least a little time to potentially see Dream Water and not yet know how to overcome it.
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V6
The first underground section in Silverwood already uses the spikes/sneak flag and the candles complicate things too quickly the way i have implemented them. So I'm just going to leave those 2 rooms unlikely to be used at that point, since Consecrate comes so soon anyway.
The purple blocks in Lacewing Skies should be spread out more on all screens, and 1 block from the 2nd half of screens was removed. The final screen of Lacewing now should have 1 hp left instead of 2.
Fixed Paladin Temple holy spheres that appear when you step on the button.
Fixed spiked walls in the windmill in Penitence Village, it seemed to use Bus Pass flag instead of Sneak.
fixed diving spots under Knyght's camp, Valley of Rust and bench under Hazelnut City
Fixed (I think) underwater spot in Scarlet Hillside where you can fall off the edge with flippers instead of floating
Rosecore tunnel enemy change
The Rosecore shop is now 'under renovations' until beating Nyx and you meet Radiant Herald for the first time. Her dialogue about Rosecore is changed slightly.
The shortcut portal from Scorian Hollow to Rosecore opens after buying Golden Scissors from the Rosecore Shop. If you exit the Rosecore before buying the Scissors the portal back will disappear after leaving that screen.
Changed the flag requirements on the first screen of hazelnut with the bus, so let me know if this screen causes any issues. Same with changing Rosecore shop and the portal shortcut to Rosecore.
Bus pass info changed flags in quest guide so it should still count as acquired after consecrate.
added save on reaching bottom level of bus interlude I
Fixed tent sge on sand ditch
luminous ingot deleted from folder full spreadsheet
info on Barrier Visor should only show up in the quest guide after returning to the main world with cape.
The background houses seen from autumn village should be more intact until it becomes autumn ruins (tileset edits)
added a screen to scarlet hillside for after you do Consecrate removing the npc dissuading you from continuing.
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It looks like you can move one tile further to the right than intended in this part of the map.
Also, this has bugged me for a while, but why are the entrances placed to the left of Mossgate Village's small doors?
Edit: Found two issues with the Spirits of Silverwood battle. First of all, you can actually avoid collecting the eye. I don't know if it's possible the first time you enter the screen, but if you die before using any of the save points, you spawn above the eye, allowing you to avoid it. With this, the battle becomes laughably easy, thanks to the spirits still being hidden. I initially expected this to make the level unwinnable, but after completing the battle, I picked up the eye immediately. It seems that I got sent to the precise location where the eye in the Silverwood Crypt that triggers the battle was. Since I never got an eye, it still existed. Regardless, this makes it possible to completely break the battle.
The other issue is that there's a void screen two screens to the right of the warp at the end of the battle. You can reach it by using the umbrella.
Edit 2: Why is there a second instance of a golden creature at the bottom of this screen of the guide?
Edit 3: Some phases in the consecrate mission could use a bit of fine-tuning. When the only threat is ninja skeletons, you can easily avoid their attacks by getting them to all assemble next to you and jumping every time they're about to throw. The exception being the phase with six of them. All I can think of doing there is pray to the RNG that I survive the first two throws. After that, it also becomes effortless. Also, the last two phases have a near-blind spot right next to the spikes. Almost nothing can hit you there. (That doesn't work as well in the phase before them thanks to the spiked ghost.)
Edit 4: Okay, so if I understand correctly, the level has two separate flags for the consecration of Silverwood Cemetery and the appearance of the evil wizards, right? And I believe returning to Gustav's house after the former is triggered is what's meant to trigger the latter. However, if you head to the Valley of Rust with just the former, the evil wizards will already be there (but only in the second part of the area). Rescuing Gustav's lion then progresses the story, causing the evil wizard flag to be triggered despite Gustav never telling you his lion was kidnapped. That seems unintentional.
Edit 5: I just returned to the Old Turt Pond from Hazelnut City after a long absence. The Act II text box popped up again.
Edit 6: Is the Knyght's Camp only supposed to be renamed to the Abandoned Camp after the Astral Corruption happens, even though it already gets abandoned before that?
Edit 7: The third screen for Gustav's farm didn't get updated. It still features Gustav thanking Juni for fixing his fan and the information that the door to the lion is sealed, even though both of them are now helping out with the assault on the castle.
Edit 8: Considering it's the knight to the right of the castle rather than the wizard explaining the orb who tells you of the existence of the library, would it not make more sense for the former to explain how to navigate it?
Edit 9: The diving on this screen still doesn't always work quite right. I sometimes fall down near the part where I was at when I took this screenshot. Can't figure out a pattern.
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This level is its own sub-community.
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Turns out you also can't swim above this spot.
Edit: With the flippers, you can actually dive right through these blocks. Though I'm not sure anything can be done about that.
Edit 2: This text box suddenly popped up when I reached that spot, despite me having already seen the same text when I fell into the Rosecore. Perhaps it's because I also got the text box for the Altar of Xethiz?
Edit 3: The guide should be updated to make it clear that the golden scissors and the dream sphere are locked behind defeating Nyx. It currently claims you just need the lava armor. Though that might be difficult to do, since there's only one cell for the Rosecore before the Astral Corruption happens.
Edit 4: Looking at the guide, it appears that perhaps the evil wizard flag is actually meant to be triggered by saving Gustav's lion in the Valley of Rust. So perhaps it actually is working correctly after all. It's just a bit weird that you can save the lion before even learning that it got kidnapped.
Edit 5: The dialog for the yellow wizard who can remove Nyx's barrier is bugged. He falsely claimed I still needed two more feathers. Perhaps it's because you didn't expect players to have not only the two feathers from the evil wizard tents, but also the one from the Rosecore? Regardless, I was still able to progress.
On a side note, these weird floating enemies in the Forbidding Archives rotate so rapidly that looking at them too closely actually makes me physically uncomfortable due to my photosensitivity. Can the rate at which they rotate be slowed down?
Edit 6: Is the entrance to that house supposed to disappear once the Valley of Rust becomes the Valley of Dust?
Edit 7: It seems Gustav is quite the escape artist. If you reach Nyx, you can see him and his lion locked up. But if you then return to his farm instead of fighting Nyx, both will be there.
Edit 8: I believe it got nerfed, but the third-last phase of the Nyx battle is still by far the hardest for me. I find that I can only really keep track of the projectiles somewhat reliably while I'm holding down the button. I usually died either before or after that. Dodging side shooters from both directions at a medium distance is already hard by itself. With the addition of lots of homing projectiles, it becomes more than I can keep track of at once.
Edit 9: What's that item near the right wall in the Penitence Village shop supposed to be? It looks like the thing marking the last column of the guide. Don't recall what that is, but I don't have it yet. So the shopkeeper's claim that I already have everything he sells except the watch isn't really true. Also, is that magnet supposed to represent anything? Technically, I don't have that either.
Edit 10: The moon has plenty of spots where enemies can partially shoot through solid tiles as long as you don't have the radiation suit. Was that a side effect of implementing the whole radioactivity mechanic?
Also, the first part of climbing up that tower on the moon (don't remember the location's name and wasn't able to take screenshots) is arguably a bit too hard. You already have to make a rather difficult jump there, but then there's also a side shooter. I'd probably either get rid of it or place a save spot just before the jump.
And some of the moon lord trial's phases are pretty hard, but others are remarkably easy. The phase with the spikey balls in particular can be won by doing literally nothing.
Edit 11: Currently dealing with the defense missions close to the end game. So far, they have indeed gotten more challenging. There are still some relatively easy phases, but not many effortless ones anymore. Though I still managed to find a blind spot in the third-last phase of the Azure Output mission and a near-blind spot in the second-last one. I'd have taken screenshots, but that never works while I'm in the middle of gameplay. It seems my controller mapper somehow interferes with it. Both of them were in corners near the left edge of the screen.
Edit 12: The Mount StarFlame defense mission was by far the easiest so far. I still found blind spots in three of the phases. Again, I couldn't take screenshots, but hiding in corners can prove very effective at times.
Edit 13: Peach Woods was also mostly easy. Only found a complete blind spot in one of the first phases, but some others had spots that protected me against all attacks except those from one of these enemies that crawl on the ceiling and shoot fireballs. They're not dangerous by themselves.
Edit 14: Pumpkin Village was harder overall, but still had a few spots that offered guaranteed protection or close to that. The second (?) phase allowed me to hide in the corner on the right edge of the screen. Another one let use the water to block all projectiles (though perhaps you were aware of that, given that a later phase on that screen put lots of slimes in there). And the last one let me hide next to the fan.
Edit 15: Aside from the last phase, Ellictus was incredibly easy. With flames as the only noteworthy hazard, most phases just involved charging towards him.
Edit 16: I had to use the guide to figure out what place Orange Valley is supposed to be. The map still calls it the Abandoned Camp.
Edit 17: Okay, so Agatrix is also one of Xethiz's minions? In that case, why did she throw the fight in the arena? I originally assumed she was just some random weakling who had no idea what she signed up for.
Edit 18: The difficulty of the second phase of Agatrix's true form is heavily dependent on the starting direction of the ghost slime. If it goes left, it's incredibly tough, seeing how it will get in your way before you're quite done pressing the button. If it goes right, it's notably easier, but still the hardest phase.
Edit 19: Do Ellictus and Agatrix really have the same sprite? They do on the guide.
Edit 20: The world map behaved a bit weirdly after Xethiz appeared. At first, my movement was slowed down and I couldn't enter locations. But after moving to the screen to the right, the normal behavior was restored again. Was this deliberate?
Edit 21: The first Eternal Annihilation mission has a phase with a huge amount of slowdown. However, this doesn't affect the real timer, so it runs out long before the visually displayed one.
Edit 22: At the end of Bella's Eternal Annihilation phase, I could see the screen with Gustav for a split second before it turned white and faded back to it. That didn't happen with the others so far.
Edit 23: You forgot to update a damaged house in the credits image for Autumn Village.
Edit 24: The credits image for Penitence Village needs to be updated to no longer say Penitance Village.
Edit 25: Does its credits image really depict the foliage in the Celestial Oasis accurately? I thought it had a trippy filter applied to it.
Edit 26: I think black text would be more readable on the Wyrmridon Catacombs' half of their credits image.
Edit 27: The first credits image for the COs doesn't actually say who made the extra spreadsheet icons.
Edit 28: The last credits image doesn't seem to say who made the sprites for the five disciples.
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And so, after two abandoned playthroughs, I finally played through the whole level again. Overall, my opinion has gotten more positive. The added save points and some toned down challenges really helped make this playthrough a lot less frustrating and more entertaining than my first. The added experience probably contributed as well. The level is in a pretty good state now. Obviously not without some further room for improvement, as my feedback made clear, but I'm rather satisfied now. Won't be forgetting about it any time soon.
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So I recently started making video playthroughs of Nifflas' games, which spontaneously inspired me to cover this level. Just finished it: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPY6G2hmt_KrK2D04VroJVxc-GQ1g3AKw
You don't seem to be active at the moment, but if you come back and are still interested in giving this level some more polish, my playthrough could give some useful insight on which parts I found the hardest and where I discovered exploits. I found a few bugs on this playthrough as well. Don't remember much, but it turns out you can skip the fight with Bella by walking past her and picking up her coin that's just lying around.
Edit: Just remembered another tiny issue. One the left screen of the Azure Outpost, there are a handful of tiles that don't get transformed by the Astral Corruption.
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Hello kilicool64
I have not started yet Gustav's Retribution (I love Shreeps levels) because I am playing Reditus for the moment
I am a little bit lost in Reditus, not knowing where to go and going around in a loop
I saw that you finished it 100%. I'll see if your videos can help me to continue because I was a little discouraged not to find the exit
Thanks ;-)
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I can't wait to start this level... I would like to finish Salty Seas before :) <3
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I can't wait to start this level... I would like to finish Salty Seas before :) <3
Just so you know, Chapter 1 of Azure Serenity: Tranquil Dreams is significantly harder in difficulty than this level, mainly thanks to the final boss, which took me almost two hours. Feel free to play that first regardless, but you'll be in for a real challenge.
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Ok thanks kilicool ;-)
I finished Azure Serenity: Tranquil Dreams but the first version from 2014...and I even found everything including the 50 GC
however I don't remember a boss at the end. Is this new in the latest version ?
because here I only play the "Salty Seas" part, choice that I made in the menu of the last version
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Ok thanks kilicool ;-)
I finished Azure Serenity: Tranquil Dreams but the first version from 2014...and I even found everything including the 50 GC
however I don't remember a boss at the end. Is this new in the latest version ?
because here I only play the "Salty Seas" part, choice that I made in the menu of the last version
Just so you know, The Salty Seas is just a small part of the remake. It has a large chunk of the original's content as well with significant changes and additions. You missed out on a lot. The option to be sent straight to The Salty Seas exists for players who already played an earlier version of the remake, not for those who only played the original, which was just called Azure Serenity without Tranquil Dreams.
The final boss is the one you're struggling with right now, the Silver Priestess.
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ah ok so in a way it's a new adventure... so I'm saving it for later, thanks ;-)