REVIEW 04
===================================
===================================
Looking for Flynnas
Made by Kira
Released on 21 June 2015
Challenge/Challenge - Medium or Hard
Large
=============================
Initially, I said I wasn't going to do this review, cause I thought the level was too unfair. Interesting how opinions can change over the course of a few weeks. After ample time to cool down, I remembered the things this level presented me with, and felt the urge to try again, but for real this time. For clarity's sake, I will quote myself with what I had initially stated in the level's thread:
I am at a loss.
To be blunt, I thought the level design was horrible, and the challenges were unfair and unforgiving. I don't play this game to be subjected to that kind of punishment.
On the other hand, the art was astoundingly beautiful, and the music made the various scenes even more strange and memorable.
I cheated to get through the entire level, so I won't be making a formal review. However, I have to give you kudos for the amazing tileset work.
Please, though. PLEASE. Don't make a level like this ever again.
I would later go on to apologize for being so blunt in that initial statement, but I had still asserted that I wouldn't be able to finish the level fairly. Looking back on it now, it seems silly to me the things I was saying. I played through this again and, this time knowing what I was getting into, the level wasn't quite as hard as I remember. I actually DID manage to complete it without cheating. As such, I think I owe it to Kira to make a formal review, especially after the needless bad-talking I had been doing before. Especially in recent times, I know what it's like to have someone bad mouth something you'd worked so hard on, so, among other things, I feel the need to avoid hypocrisy and atone for my gaming sins.
Let's dive into it, shall we?
Trustworthiness: This is a bit of a different beast in terms of how the trust is played out. Most of us grew up playing Portal. As such, we assume that designers will expect us to disobey them when they tell us not to do something.
The parallels are drawn closer when you realize that an all-encompassing malicious artificial intelligence is controlling the game you are playing.
I played to this type during my first playthrough, and was punished severely for it. At the time, I was already taken off my guard by the unorthodox design (see below for more on that) and was already losing my patience. When I inevitably went for the magical white key, despite several warnings, I was sent to a prison and had to start the game over. (so of course, at that point I ended up cheating) I was mad, I was tired, I was not thinking straight, to be honest.
What can I say? I just have a bad habit of
picking up keys. 
On my second playthrough, I knew how things were going to be. Ultimately, if you know who you can trust, you will make it through just fine.
The level itself is out to get you, with traps and other things to make you pull your hair out, but if you follow the advice of the notes from Flynnas or the blue birds, you can skillfully avoid these things every time. To me, this is definitely one of those levels that you probably will need to play twice or more in order to complete.
Because of the Chaotic Evil nature of the level itself, combined with the Lawful Good nature of the tips and advice, this level's overall alignment is
True Neutral.
Design: When I first played this, I was baffled by the design. I felt it went against everything that made a level good. After all, having things in the level that when touched force you to restart the entire game seems a bit ludicrous in principle. However, upon my second playthrough, I realized that those things were VERY avoidable, and that the game gave you ample warnings not to
tovch them.
If you are not rock stubborn enough to get caught in those traps, you will find the design is pretty straightforward. It is very clunky in places, and transitions are not always perfect, but if you follow the path and find all the tips, you will eventually reach the end.
(granted you know where to go after you get the Yellow Key)
The design, as I already stated, is unorthodox, but it does follow its own rules in most places. Unfortunately, there are still some glaring problems, including several places where wallswims and Voids are accessible. As far as I can tell, however, none of these can lead to sequence breaks. In addition, the placement of enemies in several of the areas can be off-putting, especially if you're the type of Knyttist who loses patience quickly when save points are uncommon. You can expect to be killed from transitioning between screens a couple of times. However, if you can forgive this transgression, you will find the level is more or less fair in its challenges.
However, there are some jumps that require very precise timing, especially near the end. To many, this would warrant a higher difficulty rating than the one advertised, and I am inclined to agree for the most part. In addition, the level has a bad habit of confiscating your powerups without warning, then telling you too late that you've lost them. Some of these are re-collectible, but others are not. In the context of the story, this phenomenon does make sense, but it can still be off-putting.
I find the design overall to be
shaky.
Agenda: The premise of the level is simple enough. Flynnas, a nerdy game designer, was developing a game world that would be fun and easy, but somewhere down the line, a separate entity came and took the game over, locking Flynnas up in the process. The goal of the level is to find and free Flynnas.
The entity responsible for all this turns out to be an artificial intelligence (similar to the HAL 9000) with the goal of using this game (and others) to transmit a mental virus to all the players, effectively removing their urge to reproduce and, thus, eliminating the human race through attrition. Whether or not this strategy would prove effective depends on other outside information regarding the world this game inhabits that we simply do not know about. After freeing Flynnas, the player is tasked with purging the AI (who never gets a formal designation) from the system. The way this is accomplished is not entirely clear, but in the end, Juni does manage to reach the central control room, where the AI is purged in a manner similar to that of HAL.
Oh, and incidentally, this is the AI's virtual appearance:
This story is not immediately obvious to the player. As Juni traverses the world, she will encounter notes left behind from Flynnas who is trying to explain the situation, as well as running into the main antagonist who will attempt to set traps that will send her to a place of eternal torment known simply as
White Hell, under the guise of a fair challenge. If Juni does get sent to White Hell, she can escape by reverting to the last save point.
As the level continues, Juni will need to traverse more areas of the game world, segmented together in a haphazard manner and broken in several places. Only after collecting enough tips and (real) keys will she be able to overcome the force holding Flynnas hostage.
I personally thought the story was told very well, and there are many points that are striking and memorable. However, I do not think most people will come away from it the same way I did.
Overall, the objective is met
passably.
Vibe: This is the level's strongest standing point. In many ways, the artistic prowess of this world rivals that of my all time favorite KS level, Teenhmifnoeafgil. There are so many areas in this level that are strikingly beautiful and/or otherwise memorable. I can show you a few examples of places that stuck with me, and encouraged me to give this level another shot.
In addition, the music and ambiance is (almost) all striking and memorable, each giving the areas they inhabit a distinct feel to them. It's definitely a roller coaster ride of tonality, which is masterfully executed thanks to the superb art and sound.
Overall, the vibe is
mesmerizing!
Enjoyability: First time I played this, I didn't enjoy it. The level was too far from my usual standards, and I was getting frustrated with some of the challenges. When I grabbed the white key and was stuck, that put the toothpick through my burger of discontent.
When I returned to it, I found the challenges much more doable, and, knowing what to avoid, I managed to enjoy myself quite a bit more. I feel like players who are overly obsessed with secret hunting will probably get tired of running around in the lower sectors of the early stages, and come out disappointed that they didn't find anything of note. (aside from a certain important path that you have to take later)
I suspect that those who do not read this review and play it for the first time will probably have a similar reaction to the one I initially had. I hope that they, like me, will give the level another shot.
It's definitely worth the re-play.
Summation: I feel like this level was an important deprogramming tool for me, in terms of what constitutes a 'good' KS level, or a good game in general. I can only hope that I didn't hurt Kira's feelings with my initial comments. I feel a sense of completion, and a renewed vigor to play and make more content for KS after finishing this level legitimately. Given enough time, this may even break my top 10 favorite KS levels of all time, it really is that good IMO. Take my words for what you will. In the mean-time, I gotta go back and do more work on my KS projects.