[Challenge/Puzzle - Hard] Pure Pulse Adventure

So... First off, I ought to say hello. This is my first post on this forum ever, and I'm here to bring you guys my Knytt Levels that won't fit on the archive. (Simply put, they're too large in file size) This one, is one that I'm very proud of. It's called Pure Pulse Adventure.

--Story--    The story is about Juni (of course), a girl who live on the island of Kaytii and is the newest recruit in the peacekeeping group called "Pulse Platoon".  One day, her 5 teammates find that something is fishy in Fina-La Fields, a deserted grassy plain between Bamboo Forest and the beach, so they decide to go investigate. They leave Juni behind to hold down the fort, but after her friends are gone for over a week she feels it's time to take matters into her own hands...

...And then you start playing.

--Technical info--   This game was inspired by "Gustav's Daughter", a level by Nifflas that used a map system to determine how you got from place to place. "Pure Pulse Adventure" uses the same mechanics.  This level has a lot more areas than Gustav's Daughter however.  Gustav's Daughter had about 3 different areas, while PPA has around 15.  Each of these areas also has it's own music (not from Nifflas' included soundtrack), resulting in it's large file size.  The exposition is told in short bursts, so it's not very plot heavy apart from the very end.

So, I encourage you to give this a try and give me some feedback. Thanxks and goodnight.

EDIT: You know what would be useful? A link to the download. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IIJ2PDWW

You should send a link to download it if you want us to actually try it.

Derp, that was dumb of me... 

I like how I can't escape after getting the climb powerup.  Very artistic.

There is a lot of copyrighted music like super papermario, metroid, tetris.

Also, is there any way (other than control-r) to get out if you fall between the pillar things at the beginning of the section leading up to the climb powerup?  Nice design.

I've played some levels you've made before, those on the archive... The one I liked the most is Transferal, although I'm not sure I managed to finish it (yes, I remember now; I got to the Believe message, but without the Eye, so I couldn't cross the flames room without starting the level all over again). I was deceived, but sure enjoyed the concept.
I'm gonna download this one right away!

About the music, I'm working on a remake of Metroid, and I sometimes feel nothing fits as well as the original music... It doesn't bother me personally, it's just that you could avoid copyright infringement by searching for good Creative Commons musics on the net. Just doing a quick search on google, you'll find a few good websites!

I like the concept, but it is kind of flawed. There were way too many challenges that relied on the retractable spikes for my taste. It isn't fun for me when I run along somewhere and all of a sudden I'm killed by spikes without any warning. You just can't know that they're there.

The hedge maze was also pretty cruel, to be honest I cheated my way out of there. When I tried to retrace to find out what the right way was supposed to be, I found a solid wall (?). So I really have no idea how to escape that maze, but that could be because I just lack skill.

Actually I cheated a lot in this level, but not because the challenges were so hard, but because again and again I found myself killed by instant spikes somewhere when the last save point was a long time ago. I liked the challenges where there were no spikes or other death traps.

I think the waterfall area was the best out of them all.

I'm sorry to criticize a level that evidently had a great lot of work put into it, but it felt really broken to me. I've only visited the first few areas. The Rockshire Plains, for example, were far too simple visually. The pillars (or whatever they were supposed to be) were irritating because one couldn't jump and climb them right away because of the little platform on top of each. The larger brown masses were confusing: the first screen with water in the Rockshire Plains has a large brown structure which the player can climb from the right (which makes sense), but also from the left, providing one times their jump right. And from the left, it turns out only a part of that brown structure is solid, adding to the irritation. I never got past the warp maze in that area, only saw four screens and gave up after many minutes of frustrating attempts at trying to get somewhere. (This kind of problem, by the way, is best remedied by recruiting beta-testers.) And then there's an invisible wall one can hit near the entrance/exit, and climbing it leads to wallswimming and void screens...

The Ankoku Cave was much better designed, but I couldn't get anywhere in that area. Not a problem as such - I guess I simply need some more powerups - however, if that (lack of powerups) is the case, why does the person sitting outside the cave hint that I need to be able to climb? I can climb, I still can't get anywhere, so why wasn't I told something else? Frustration ensues. The Sanjuu Trees were once again very simplistic visually, and just as confusing as the plains - trees growing on a tree, one partially solid and somehow transforming into a brown spot at the top, one not solid at all. I managed to get the purple key but didn't have the blue one, so I ended up jumping on the blue locks and then fell into a void to the right. I checked previous areas armed with run & climb powerups and couldn't find the blue key; so I'm stuck. Eh!

On the brighter side, I liked the plot, and the few bits of dialogue/text I encountered were well-written and making me want to play more of the level. And the idea of making extensive use of multi-sectional levels a la Gustav's Daughter appeals to me very much; you've done a good job imagining caves, plains, etc. and putting them all together. But the technical side really suffers IMO; beta-testers are a must for any large project, especially for challenge levels.

Okay, I've played it last evening! I'm about 50/50 on the good and bad points. I played it through and it was pretty good. The maze wasn't even a problem... sure it took at least 10 minutes, but I found the right warps with tries and errors. I found a wallswim in there, where the maze becomes black and green, an obvious warp or design problem. Many voids also, noticeably in the trees area.

What bothered me the most, it's when you manage to find an item, power-up or key, and suddenly you lose it without any explanation at all. The hologram, the purple key... Also, in the first cave, the man says you need the Climb, but what he should say is "you need the umbrella"! I saved, and couldn't go back out since there are no-climb walls.

I didn't like the ending, but it's just my own view
Also, after picking the wrong choice, I was sent back to the entrance of the area (where you enter the white thing), instead of the last save point. Some spots are pretty hard, so I didn't appreciate having to do it again. And the "lol" block was just strange imo.

With some small corrections, this level is a must-play! Possibly your best one yet. Sorry if my review sounds harsh... like Yohji said, there's a lot of work put in there, and overall I had a good time playing it through!

The thing about the old man being stupid then the no climb walls happening annoyed me too. I am sorry but I cannot stand any more of this level.

Liked it a lot. Design is better than in Transferal and Supreme Sanktoh (haven't played other levels yet), though it still suffers from same problems in smaller amounts.

Some bugs:

I managed to get the purple key but didn't have the blue one, so I ended up jumping on the blue locks and then fell into a void to the right. I checked previous areas armed with run & climb powerups and couldn't find the blue key; so I'm stuck. Eh!

You are supposed to jump on blue locks, just don't go into the void

Okay guys, thanks very much for your constructive critizism. A few things I'm gonna say real quick before going and fixing the errors.

-Most of the time there is some sort of tell as to whether or not there are spikes on the ground. Just keep your eyes peeled.
-The level name and author being in the wrong spot is something I realized very late in development... And I don't believe there is much I can do to fix it now... 
-I was under the impression that as long as I wasn't selling the level or claiming the music as my own that it was alright to use copywritten VGMs.  Could someone tell me if that truely IS a problem, or a suggestion?

I don't know enough to offer any advice on copyright law but the level and author thing is safe to change. If it's the folder, you can rename it without any problems; just remember to rename your saves aswell, if you're using any. If it's how they display in-game you can edit it in world.ini without hurting anything.

I am stuck at the Dark Skies I cannot go anywhere without the   I am also without the yellow key and I need it to continue, where do I find it?