Have you ever watched new players playing Lemmings?

[namida]

I'm just wondering; I've been around a few new players playing it, most recently my girlfriend who I've set up with a copy of all the Lemmix players (including my packs, of course ), and it's quite interesting to see how they tackle problems and what they do and don't manage to deal with.

For example, she struggled a lot with crowd control and getting the crowds down on Taxing 2, yet solved Taxing 3 second try (failing the first attempt only due to the time limit). I was completely the other way around - although I love Taxing 2 I never found it to be very difficult, yet Taxing 3 was very problematic for me. On Taxing 4, she used a solution that never even crossed my mind the first time I played - going out the right side of the level and building up on the outside. On the other hand, I do notice some similarities - both of us found Tricky 19 to be our first major obstacle - though her eventual solution was different from what I did the first time I solved it. Last time we talked about it, she was up to Taxing 16 (hadn't attempted it yet); definitely much faster than I got that far.

So - how about you guys, have you ever observed newer players? Any interesting stories?

[Tiduas]

I'm not really a skilled Lemmings player, I've got through most of the games now and can handle most stuff I think but still struggles on some of the harder puzzles. That being said though, I can still laugh inside when I see new players tackling Lemmings courses through the "Fun difficulty", thinking out aloud about stuff that we more experienced players take for granted and such. The problem with myself is that I can't keep myself quiet at these moments, I'm constantly being like "You want a hint or something?" which I guess takes away some of the fun experiencing Lemmings for the first time. 

[exit]

I find that new players don't get the "hold the crowd with two blockers and let one lemming go ahead" strategy, and waste many precious skills on it. Like Tiduas, I always say, "do you want a hint?". New players are very challenged by lemmings, and the fun levels can be very hard for them(same for the other ratings). These are my observations.

[Akseli]

A nice topic! I showed Lemmings to my 10-year-old cousin twins during this year, and they played some of the Fun rating together when they were at my place. The first level they needed my help was Fun11: "Keep your hair on Mr. Lemming", where I had to tell them how oneway-wall functions. The next level where I helped them was 17: "Easy when you know how". That was the level they reached in about two hours if I recall correctly, and after that day they haven't played the game as far as I know, I might remind them of Lemmings when a good situation shows up next time. Both of them said they liked the game a lot back then, though!

I managed to coax a friend of mine to try Lemmings out also a couple of years ago, and if I remember correctly, his first roadblock was likewise "Keep your hair on Mr. Lemming", for the same reason. I remember having fun watching when he found out lemmings splatting in Fun10: "Smile if you love lemmings". Also, he was wondering about 12: "We all fall down" if it was really that easy, but no, the guys splatted again. He reached 14: "Origins and Lemmings" but failed due to time limit, using fast forward all the time and releasing the crowd after the worker lemming had done its job. He was pissed off and he hasn't played Lemmings after that. :--D

[Mariachi Skeletron Prime]

I introduced one of my friends to lemmings a while back. He ended up getting stuck on Fun 11. He never utilised RR efficiently, instead of going to 99, he'd keep it at the default and fast forward. He stopped doing this once he realised there was a time limit. 

[Crane]

I never really got to watch beginners play, rather just more experienced players.  Granted, it taught me a few things and I got known in my school as the first person to complete "Inroducing SUPERLEMMING!" which, being the Acorn Archimedes version, was nicely accompanied with Yakedy Sax music!  We all got stuck on "Race against the cliches" (Havoc 4) though.

As a beginner myself, Fun 11 and Tricky 19 were the two levels I really got stuck on for quite a long time.  Maybe I do need to introduce a friend to play the original game and not the custom lemmings packs!

[grams88]

That is an interesting topic, thamks namida. 

It's really interesting watching people play lemmings for the first time. I remember in the past when I used to load up lemmings on the atari st I used to always click T for trainer which meant I could skip by the levels even if I never completed it. At that time I probably wasn't that good at the game, I needed my dad to help me with the levels. (Level 5 on fun was hard I thought )

I tried to get my brother into lemmings and noticing some of the levels he was finding hard, I would of found easy. I was watching someone on you tube who I think was playing lemmings tribes for the first time, interesting seeing it from another person's perspective.

I know what level or levels my dad hates, (We all fall down)  My dad thinks highly of lemmings. one of his favorite games of all time same with me. 

I wonder how someone would think seeing this game for the first time.