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Lost Ages IV

Archive: 18 posts

Lost Ages IVDeftMute
Our courageous sackperson seeks yet another Sun Sphere. This time in an age of high technology. Now the towering steel constructs are overgrown and crumbling. Can you renew hope?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/elahrairha/la4screen2-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/elahrairha/la4screen4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/elahrairha/la4screen3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v251/elahrairha/la4screen1.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh16HHypqAE

Disclaimer:
This level is not only hard, it is really long.
Suggested for single player.
Camera angles, as always, will make you hate me.		2010-06-11 02:40:00

Author:
Deftmute
Posts: 730

that was awfully fast...lol2010-06-11 02:53:00

Author:
Littlebigdude805
Posts: 1924

sjkldfhlaskjdhflkasjdhflkjha going on right now, im sure ull see me on2010-06-11 03:28:00

Author:
DarkSeraphim666
Posts: 96

Ooo, my first post.

I love long and hard! ^_^

I will play this tonight or tomorrow. I pedict my chances of survival are 100%. Don't know why, that's just what I'm feeling.

If I like I will return here and thank you for your creation. If not, my words were never read.		2010-06-11 03:52:00

Author:
Hana_Kami
Posts: 393

This level looks very good! I will definitely play this tomorrow morning, and as of now I am writing it down on my 'to play list' (yes, I have a 'to play list' )!2010-06-11 04:14:00

Author:
RJA00000
Posts: 387

psshhht, this Was one of those levels that you INSTANTLY play because you know its out, not something you WAIT and put on a to do list. this was reDICulous. everything lost ages and MORE and it was probably more punishing than any previous lost ages. two people was absurd to play with but a blast. officially my new favorite entry in the series. as far as i can tell, ur not leaving urself much room to top urself Def, BUT im clueless as to ur own limits so lets just say i hope you keep me consistently flabergasted. ive got faith. ; ) PLAY IT mofos2010-06-11 05:45:00

Author:
DarkSeraphim666
Posts: 96

I have returned from playing your level a moment ago.

Cleared it. I went there and survived. Somehow my predictions always come true.

It was pretty EZ compared to my nomal playgrounds, but fun. Definitly a long one. I may or may not put this on my ace list. I predict that I can ace this. It's another feeling.

Only flaw was that on one part I would fall down where gas should have killed me, but there was no gas in back plane so I would be behind the gas and have to pop myself.

And that is all, another level I have traveled upon, and another to give beneath the weight of my weightless feet. I had become the level. Thank you creator! ^_^

5 glowing stars and a beating heart.		2010-06-11 08:46:00

Author:
Hana_Kami
Posts: 393

psshhht, this Was one of those levels that you INSTANTLY play because you know its out, not something you WAIT and put on a to do list. this was reDICulous. everything lost ages and MORE and it was probably more punishing than any previous lost ages. two people was absurd to play with but a blast. officially my new favorite entry in the series. as far as i can tell, ur not leaving urself much room to top urself Def, BUT im clueless as to ur own limits so lets just say i hope you keep me consistently flabergasted. ive got faith. ; ) PLAY IT mofos

Haha, sorry, but I had to go to bed and couldn't play it right away! I'm playing it now though! 		2010-06-11 14:25:00

Author:
RJA00000
Posts: 387

Thanks guys!
I had a really good feeling while making this one.
In my own humble opinion, it is the best of the series so far.
As such, i am very glad that you enjoyed it.

i knew about that gas and forgot to fix it.
thanks for reminding me.

It really makes me happy to have achieved a sort of niche here.
All you masochists and immortals

I hope you guys stick with me as we move on to LBP2,
and i hope that i can give you plenty of reason to.		2010-06-12 04:17:00

Author:
Deftmute
Posts: 730

I'm a niche kinda guy myself. No doubts, I'll most definitely be following you every step of the way.(not in a creepy way >_>)2010-06-12 06:10:00

Author:
DarkSeraphim666
Posts: 96

i'm surprised i haven't seen morgana sherpa a pack through yet.

guys...
if there are things broken or having problems.
PLEASE TELL ME!		2010-06-13 20:57:00

Author:
Deftmute
Posts: 730

spotlighted!!2010-06-28 18:05:00

Author:
Deftmute
Posts: 730

(had to say sumthing) GOOD JOB sucka.2010-06-28 23:36:00

Author:
DarkSeraphim666
Posts: 96

Ugh.
Gotta say, I didn't like this level. :/ Not that I finished.
Overall I feel it is too punishing. You challenge the player already with the extreme camera angle, and if you miss jump/etc you fall in the water, and then have to swim -all- the way back. It is faster to pop and then run foward to attempt the obstacle again, which still takes ages.

You don't really introduce the elements well. For example when you are carring the block over the jumps, there was a point where the camera let me go to right of the screen (couldn't see what was ahead at all) so I assumed that it where you left the block and jumped from it. It wasn't.
You also have a fair bit of automatic layer switching while jumping/landing, when combined with the extreme camera makes it hard to judge distances. Even in the first gap, it looks like sackboy hits an invisible wall while in the air, but in reality it just looks off because of the extreme camera.


Once I got the block to the stairs, I climbed to the peak. Because of the extreme camera angle I thought it was one of those "oh the camera is in extreme mode so I can make the jump" jumps. Yeah, nah. Once I fell in the water I saw steps leading back up, unfortunately they are too high to climb. :/
Why give the glimmer of possibility to the player when in fact it is impossible? It's like having a coin in mario, hovering just above the player's head, out of reach.
So I popped my sackboy (he's getting used to it by now) and tried again but grabbing. I jumped too high, grabbed the sponge above the wheel stopping the momemtum needed to swing across. I made it on the fourth attempt, as the jump is still quite tricky. Didn't see that extra ledge but needed it.

Also with the rubber circle jump, because of the extreme camera angle, the cam focuses horizontally, (which usually indicates the player's goal) when it in fact it (or something else) should indicate the next step is grabbing the "vines" above, which again, has not been introduced to the player.

I got stuck on the part after this. You release a block which you drag by swimming across some water. The block cannot be dragged to the ramp (as it is on a different layer) so I'm guessing you can't get up there yet. I swim down and get through an opening which opens me up to an area, sadly it looks and plays like a dead end. I sticker each layer with primary colours (as the extreme camera angle hampers my ability to explore/see clearly), but it doesn't help. I go back and mess around with the blocks again but it is in vein and I still don't know what to do.

The level feels more like a test of patience than skill. I see why you called it "lost ages". (har har )
Finally, what exactly is the deal with you and these extreme camera angles?
EDIT: Oh, and the blocks sometimes snag on the edge of the bouncy things (which stuff up that attempt).		2010-07-01 15:13:00

Author:
midnight_heist
Posts: 2513

Hiya-

First off, congratulations on the spotlight, well deserved friend. At the start of the level I immediately know that it is something special. Lots of nice visuals, such as the tiny water droplets falling from the top, they really gave a great impact. I saidly can't say that I finished due to not having enough time to tackle the first area. But judging by the visuals and the cool ideas from what I saw, I can assume that the rest of the level was cool too. Nice work.

I rated the level :star::star::star::star::star:. 		2010-07-02 03:00:00

Author:
X-FROGBOY-X
Posts: 1800

I understand where youre coming from. I guess as the fourth part of a series i assumed that a lot of the elements within would have been considered "already introduced".
I keep forgetting that people can jump in at any point.

As far as patience goes, I try to design the lost ages levels in such a way that players will not feel compelled to rush through and instead examine the areas and plan out how they will progress, whether or not i was successful in this... well i guess i wasn't. That spot you mentioned near the beginning where you had to pop yourself was accidental, and now that you've mentioned it, i wonder why i didnt hear about it earlier.

The solution to the area where you got stuck (though i wouldn't expect you to go replay a level you didnt enjoy) is to pull the box even deeper into the water where there is another passage around the little island, where you find another couple boxes, one of which being on the front layer, and able to be pulled back to the first place you saw that needed a box.

The camera angles are there for two reasons. To make it look nice, and to add difficulty. Playing the first LA, the camera angles are just about the only thing difficult about it.
Then of course, i expanded from there, bringing in more and more difficult platforming to the already unforgiving camera situation. Its also pretty much the one thing that makes the series unique. Not all of my levels have these camera angles. It is purely a theme of the series.

I'm sorry if you took offense to the level. It was not intended to frustrate, but to challenge.		2010-07-03 20:47:00

Author:
Deftmute
Posts: 730

yea ima tell you like it is
Positive: Good design on the level

Negatives: A challenge is fun but when you make it out of control is another..if you was really expecting high rating or hearts you gotta understand people gunna rate that 3 stars or below.

The rubber thing with the falling in water & swim all the way bac you should know that was ridiculous & if you was to put it n other peoples perspective you would known if u made it that difficult maybe people would quit after few tryz & rate low? gotta think bout stuff like dat i understand you wanted a very hard level but if u was expecting 4 or 5 stars somethings wrong..but like i said well made but I rated it low myself.. 2 Stars- (Needs Work)		2010-07-04 00:27:00

Author:
Sabre_
Posts: 653

yea i understand what you sayin maybe you should
have something you put a sticker on to give out hint bout the box
because you can hardly see through but yea this same problem was also brought up from someones post but i think if u do think about lookin over it & just that area be easier might have more people complete but kno i gave up after 15th try lol swimmin bac annoyed me		2010-07-04 03:43:00

Author:
Sabre_
Posts: 653


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