Holiday GigaLems 2015 - First Complete Beta

[ericderkovits]

I have this pack downloaded. I notice it's a special player one, but it does match the very old(1.43 type player) since to access other levels it uses passwords(like the 1.43 player ones do)
Along with your Resident Gigalems and Resident Gigalems 0 pack which also uses the 1.43 player.

so your 4 very old ones are: Standard Gigalems, Resident Gigalems, Resident Gigalems 0 and your holiday 2015 pack(based on 1.43)
Edit: from your OP download link it looks like it's based on 1.52 which is still very old

Your 2016 holiday pack though is for 10.13.

[kaywhyn]

I have this pack downloaded. I notice it's a special player one, but it does match the very old(1.43 type player) since to access other levels it uses passwords(like the 1.43 player ones do)

This is not 100% correct. It depends on the pack. Some level packs for very Old Formats have all levels unlocked at the very start if the designer has decided to enable that setting. Lemmicks is an example where you can access any level via the left and right arrow keys on the preview screen. In the case of this pack, it is indeed correct that other levels can only be accessed via password or by beating the previous level first.

Edit: from your OP download link it looks like it's based on 1.52 which is still very old

Also not correct. The 1.52 is referring to the version number of the pack, not to any NL player. Historically, there never was a NL v1.52. The last one after 1.43 was 1.47n-D.

[kaywhyn]

Happy early Christmas, everyone! I have finished this pack, so my complete set of replays are attached. The first one is for very Old Formats NL, while the second set is the .nxp that namida made for the pack with FlexiTool. My v1.43 replays should work for the v1.52 of the pack as well. Again, these replays probably won't be of interest to anyone, but I'm doing this for historical reasons and for completeness, since my plan is to eventually post all my replays to the level pack topics for the ones I play. Note that the levels are the same in both, but the music is different. The v1.43 one plays Christmas music, while the FlexiTool one plays other music. Also, some of the sounds are different. For example, in the FlexiTool version, swimmers play the drowning sound when they hit water when they are swimmers, and the disarmer makes a clinking sound when disarming, instead of the sounds we are familiar with in the newest NL versions.

This is quite an excellent pack with the many great puzzles and some very nicely decorated on top of it! I definitely can recommend giving this pack a go, although beware it starts off very easy and gets quite difficult as you progress. Even some of the very well-designed levels aren't easy, so don't be fooled into thinking those will be easy when they actually aren't. Not to mention that plenty of levels rely on extreme precision for the skill assignments, which seems to be something that Gigalem is quite fond of. I'm not sure if this still holds with his Millas packs, as I haven't played them yet.

Feedback on the Very Merry Rank

This is a very well-done first rank. Except for a few levels, the levels in this rank are very easy and quite open-ended. Don't get too comfortable, though, because the later levels get quite difficult, even for a relatively medium in length pack. I especially liked the last three levels of the rank. They were really good puzzles, although Very Merry 11 is the easiest one of the three. The last two get bonus points for being very well-decorated and very pleasing to the eye, especially Very Merry 12 for being a really great puzzle!


Feedback on the Ba Humbug Rank

Things get slightly more difficult in this rank compared to the previous rank. Both Ba Humbug 1 and 12 are found in Gigalem's ghost pack. The former features ghosts, while the latter features the Superlemming gimmick. The hardest levels in the rank were Ba Humbug 4 - The first snow of Lemtropolis, Ba Humbug 6 - You need to have a good Strato-gy, and Ba Humbug 7 - SnowBall Wall-Fillers. 4 and 6 were difficult due to the extreme precision needed. 4 seems to refer to forum member Strato, although in what way I'm not sure. Or maybe it's just a play on words. This was also true with many levels in his ghost and zombie packs. Gigalem seems to be a fan of tight pixel precision. In 7, I kept running into problems in trying to formulate a solution in my mind and running out of skills, but ultimately I came up with a solution that spares a few skills.

My favorite levels of the rank were Ba Humbug 3 - A Naughty Trap and Ba Humbug 10 - A naughty level. Funny how my favorites happen to have the word "naughty" in the title. I didn't have to resort to highlighting a lemming for the former, though. Very nice compression level. The latter

Spoiler

uses several well-placed stoners in order to dig all the way through.

Feedback on the Naughty Rank

A little more difficult in this rank, although all the easy ones seemed to have been at the end instead of at the beginning. Both Naughty 7 and 8 are levels from Gigalem's ghost pack. The former features the turn on assign gimmick, while the latter features the ghost gimmick obviously, as indicated by the title. The hardest level in the rank would probably have to be Naughty 1 - Digging Yourself out of the list. like Nepster said, this requires a lot of pixel precision with the diggers. It's a really nice level to start off the rank, but the extreme precision really ruins the level. Naughty 3 - Faking out, & Frozen Shut looks difficult, but it's really not. There's a lot of fake exits here, although I think it's more to how the trigger areas are buried, but I'm not sure. Naughty 9 - Breaking the ice! is somewhat difficult, although certainly the hardest entrance to deal with is the right entrance, which is a preassigned climber hatch. There's also some extreme pixel precision needed.

My favorite levels of the rank are Naughty 10 - Snowdin Town and Naughty 12 - Shakunestu Pyrotechnic Lemmings. The former gets bonus points for being extremely nicely decorated It is a somewhat difficult level, but I think it's more due to the huge size of the level. There is one very extreme pixel precise assignment near the beginning, but other than that the rest have some leeway. The latter is easier than it looks despite the huge size of the level. I spotted the

Spoiler

nuke solution almost right away. Interesting that it was quick here but in other levels I sometimes failed to realize it or it took me a while to come up with the nuke solution.

Feedback on the Subzero Rank

This rank felt much easier than the previous 3 ranks. The only levels that were difficult when first playing them were Subzero 6 - Presents of eveyone (sic) in mined and The last place to stay warm. The former is difficult to figure out despite the hint in the title suggesting the way of miners to get up the level. It took me a very long time to figure out the stacker's use, but once I did figure it out the rest of the level was a bit easier. The latter is also a bit difficult to figure out, and there's also a lot of extreme precision needed. More than anything, the major drawback of the v1.43 NL player is how it's very difficult to select a particular lemming in a crowd, since that lemming isn't highlighted by changing color. The way around this is with the highlight right-click, but I almost never use it. The only other level that looks difficult but it's easier than it appears is Subzero 3 - The Meeting of Calinca Island.

Pretty much all the other levels in the rank I really liked.

Spoiler

Subzero 1 - Three wise lemmings Can be difficult to start off the rank, but it's quite a nice puzzle. There's a lot of precision involved as well, especially with the miner.

Subzero 2 - Made with cane sugar Excellent puzzle! I really love how the solution comes together, although it cuts quite close to the miner finishing in time before the crowd arrives.

Subzero 4 - Wrap up the cane of my existance (this is misspelled) Excellent level featuring wrap! At first, I thought it was an error when lemmings couldn't collect the builder pickup from falling off the bottom of the level, but you can still get it by building two sets of staircases going to the right. It is a bit precise, though.

Subzero 5 - Someone's thrasin' for a bashin' (I'm guessing, since the title gets cut off) Very nice level where you need to set up builders in two different places to keep the basher going. Unfortunately the first bridge for the floor check in both places is pixel precise. This is still a really nice puzzle, though!

Subzero 7 - Better late then (this is misspelled) never! Wow, really nice design and puzzle! Quite easy too.

Subzero 8 - Welcome me Dearly Another nice puzzle. The most difficult part is the beginning, where it needs good timing and both lemmings in the digger pit need to fall out to the right together. The only thing I don't like is how the climber can touch the steam blower guns without dying.

Subzero 9 - Saints go maching (might be a misspelling unless you intended it this way)? Way too easy. Nice level, though.

Subzero 10 - Giga ems (no L) Clearly a reference to the level emmings (no L) from Holiday Lemmings. Both are somewhat easy levels, but I especially love the puzzle here! Must time the second climber so that he turns around in the basher tunnel and will be able to bash after the basher pickup is collected.

Subzero 11 - Tower of terror This should be a backroute. It's also a really easy level.

Feedback on the Hypothermic Rank

A lot of the levels in this rank were quite difficult. It is the final rank of the pack, after all. Both Hypothermic 6 and 10 are levels found in Gigalem's ghost pack. This is also the only rank to have 13 levels, whereas the other ranks have 12 levels each, therefore the pack has 61 levels total. The hardest levels in the rank for me were Hypothermic 9 - Piping Cold! and Hypothermic 11 - The Journey of December 24th. I pretty much had the solutions almost all figured out for both. In the former, I kept having problems with saving enough, as I kept being 1 short. Then I came up with the fiddly solution in the replay, especially in the beginning with the RR fiddling. In the latter, for a long time

Spoiler

I kept thinking the first gap needs 2 builders, but it turns out 1 builder is enough for non-floaters to not splat. However, it is an extremely precise assignment, along with how it's not clear whether the fall is splat height. Before this, I pretty much had almost all of the solution after a long time, but the only problem I had left was building the crowd out of the steel pit. Initially I kept bombing away the terrain with a climber and trying to get them out with just 1 builder. I kept trying several times to get them out, but after a while I concluded that it's impossible with just one builder, since it will never reach the golden terrain overhang.

There's other things that make 11 difficult on top of being an already very hard level with a very difficult to figure out solution. There's good timing needed, and the builder to set up the miner, as well as the miner itself, are also quite precise. One final thing is that Gigalem seems to have gotten inspiration from Icho's Hurt Me Plenty rank finisher of Reunion for this level, especially since I later recognized the steel pit resembling the one Icho uses in his level.

There were plenty of levels in the rank that are easier than they appear. I felt this was the case with Hypothermic 2 - Lolipop'd, Hypothermic 3 - Lets make a chimney!, and Hypothermic 12 - The great sleigh launch!. The first one isn't difficult, but was a level that I kept running into the save requirement problem, as I kept being one short. Turns out

Spoiler

The platformer needs to start in the middle lollipop instead of from the left side at the bottom. This is difficult to see, though, since it wasn't clear if one platformer is enough in both directions in the middle.

I thought Hypothermic 3 was going to be extremely fiddly due to the radiation, but it turns out to be much easier than I thought it would be. Very nice level. Finally, Hypothermic 12 is another level that can be difficult, but I think it's intimidating more than anything due to the very large level size. Perhaps another reason is due to how you're never sure if you're wasting or using any of the skills in the wrong place until it's too late, when you start seeing that you're a skill or two short in the end.

Hypothermic 8 - At least the switches still work seems to have been inspired from a Pimolems Hurricane level, as the start and most of the terrain is extremely similar to it. Too bad I seemed to have backrouted the level, though. I remember that level from Pimolems being one of the most difficult of the pack. Then again, I first played the pack on Lemmini.

Hypothermic 13 - Epilogue-New Years@Lemtropolis isn't anywhere near the hardest level of the pack despite being the final level of the pack. It's a very nice, somewhat easy level to finish off the pack, though! The save requirement is quite lenient, although I suspect it's this low due to

Spoiler

the nuke solution being a possibility. I solved the level without it, though, but I suspect the nuke is intended here.

Well done with this pack, although some of the levels would be better than they are now if you allow some leeway in the skill assignments. With this pack done, I will be looking at your 2016 Holiday pack soon! I'm wondering if that follow-up pack will offer me a much better challenge than this pack did. Don't get me wrong, this pack still challenged me in plenty of places, but I'm sure you mentioned that the 2016 pack is harder. If so, I'm looking forward to it and seeing how badly it can stump me.