Yooka Laylee And The Impossible Lair

[drahkon]

Everything's done except the final level.

Haven't given it another go, yet, but will definitely try to complete it tomorrow.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

6 hours ago, drahkon said:

Everything's done except the final level.

Haven't given it another go, yet, but will definitely try to complete it tomorrow.

Managed to get to that stage on my go on Gamepass...I think I've reached a certain point of the Impossible Lair (won't say too much as you've yet to do it) but I found it a real slog, lost motivation to keep trying it! 

Hopefully you'll have better luck than me, it's sort of on my mind but, also, well, I kind of feel at peace with how far I got, too ☺️

Look forward to hearing how you get on with it! 😎

[drahkon]

Gave it a few tries.

On my first attempt today I got to the third checkpoint with 15 bees left. No idea if that's enough for the next part + its boss. I'm also pretty sure that this'll be the remaining sections of the level.

Sadly, this level sucks. The difficulty usually comes from not knowing what to expect and sometimes not having enough time to react/plan ahead. It all comes down to: memorization and I hate that shit in platforming games (edit: case in point: Just "beat" the first section without being hit; it's not a necessarily difficult level on its own, but if you don't know what's coming you will get hit)

Pretty sure I'll get it done today after a few more tries, but it's a shame that this level will affect my overall impressions of this game quite negatively

Edited January 24, 2021 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Gave it a few tries.

On my first attempt today I got to the third checkpoint with 15 bees left. No idea if that's enough for the next part + its boss. I'm also pretty sure that this'll be the remaining sections of the level.

Sadly, this level sucks. The difficulty usually comes from not knowing what to expect and sometimes not having enough time to react/plan ahead. It all comes down to: memorization and I hate that shit in platforming games.

Pretty sure I'll get it done today after a few more tries, but it's a shame that this level will affect my overall impressions of this game quite negatively

That's exactly why I loved the final stage. It harkened back to the NES/SNES era when that's exactly what most 2D platformers were about. In cases like this it's on the player if they cock up and die because there shouldn't really be any surprises as everything has a pattern and a set placement.

I think what most people struggle with with the Lair is not so much the challenge of it but rather then length. You have to play at the top of your game for a large period of time and a lot of people just can't be chewed with that these days,

[drahkon]

12 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

In cases like this it's on the player if they cock up and die because there shouldn't really be any surprises as everything has a pattern and a set placement.

Disagree. It's only on the player once you know what to expect.

Yes, there is a pattern, but there are certain parts where you have no time to figure out that pattern. Example: There's an upwards jump you have to make and during the camera scrolling upwards a heat seeking missile is launched. You couldn't even see the canon. There's almost no way you can escape the hit.

Just made it to that section again and wouldn't you know it: I didn't get hit by the missile 'cause I knew there was one

The challenges'/patterns'/jumps' difficulty is actually perfect, in my opinion. It's just that more often than not you can't figure out how to approach these things 'cause you simply don't have the time.

It's why I love the old Mega Man games. You enter a new screen and have time to scan the area and even when there's enemies approaching you still are able to assess the situation and react accordingly. These games were difficult for the right reasons.

12 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I think what most people struggle with with the Lair is not so much the challenge of it but rather then length. You have to play at the top of your game for a large period of time and a lot of people just can't be chewed with that these days,

Well, that's not really a problem for me

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

I meant what said in terms of once you know what to expect, not on your first run through. Very few people would make it through on their first attempt. It's not really designed that way.

Again, like platformers from old, there's a lot of trial and error to the stage and it's about making that little bit of progress each time and learning from your mistakes/deaths from previous runs. 

[drahkon]

7 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I meant what said in terms of once you know what to expect, not on your first run through.

Ah, then I misunderstood.

7 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's not really designed that way.

Indeed. And I understand that. It's just that I hate a levels that are designed that way

7 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Again, like platformers from old, there's a lot of trial and error to the stage and it's about making that little bit of progress each time and learning from your mistakes/deaths from previous runs. 

Apparently I never played many platformers like that. My experience with games from those times seems to be a bit different.

[drahkon]

Aaaaaaaanyway

Took me 14 attempts to beat The Not So Impossible Lair, 5 of them I spent trying to complete the first checkpoint without being hit once.

Even with me not enjoying how the final level is designed, I'm still going to give Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair a 5/5 rating.

It's a fun, challenging yet fair (most of the time ) 2D-plaftormer. Actually, one of the very best of the genre. It puts Donkey Kong to shame, in my opinion.

Can't wait to see what Playtonic Games has in store next.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

Don't quite know where to put this but just read that Playtonic are having a "rebrand" and that all will be revealed soon! 

Rumour mill has gone straight to "Microsoft acquisition" and "Banjo-Threeie" straight away 😂

[drahkon]

20 minutes ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

Don't quite know where to put this but just read that Playtonic are having a "rebrand" and that all will be revealed soon!

Yup, got that info via a Kickstarter mail.

20 minutes ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

Rumour mill has gone straight to "Microsoft acquisition" and "Banjo-Threeie" straight away 😂

Would be the absolute worst.

I've come to terms with the big companies buying out some larger studios, but I hate it when independent studios are acquired Especially one as talented as Playtonic Games. Their games should be played by all.

Edited January 27, 2021 by drahkon

[Glen-i]

7 hours ago, drahkon said:

Yup, got that info via a Kickstarter mail.

Would be the absolute worst.

I've come to terms with the big companies buying out some larger studios, but I hate it when independent studios are acquired Especially one as talented as Playtonic Games. Their games should be played by all.

I wonder, would you be fine with big companies commissioning independent studios to make a single game if it meant it only released on said big company's console? (Kinda like Cadence of Hyrule's situation)

[drahkon]

3 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

I wonder, would you be fine with big companies commissioning independent studios to make a single game if it meant it only released on said big company's console? (Kinda like Cadence of Hyrule's situation)

Only if it was on the consoles I own

In Cadence of Hyrule's case it's obvious that the game couldn't come out on anything other than Nintendo's device. If it's an IP which is exclusive to one company and if the indie studio isn't bought out, I'm fine with it.

[Nicktendo]

I started this on Switch and got about 30% of the way through. Playing it now on Series S and just got my 24th member of the Beetalion. I'm both shocked and not shocked at how good this games is as you get deeper into it. Shocked because the first was pretty average, and they've really knocked it out of the park this time. And I'm not shocked because we always knew these fellas were talented, of course they haven't lost it! Every level throws something new and interesting at you, especially in the second version. Such a great mechanic. The underwater levels are excellent, something I can rarely say about platformers. 

It tops the Retro DK games for me. The world design is far more interesting, the overworld is a joy, the visuals have so much style and variation, especially when the extra FX are applied. 

I've done the first 10 levels both times sans a few T.W.I.T. coins here and there, I'm coming up on 100 now. 200 will probably be quite tricky, but I'm determined to 1000G this game. 

 

[Kounan]

I've started this game, did the first level and stoped. But I did it on a PC, as Epic store gave it for free and I have a feeling that this game is meant to be play on the sofa and on TV, like most platformers (for me).