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This is the most complicated prediction challenge in the stage, since you have to imagine how the skull will track Lolo. It will continuously seek out Lolo until its death, so if you don't completely block it, its reaction can span over an infinite number of steps. Also, bear in mind that the skull will not randomly bump around, but instead, will take turns towards Lolo's location.
One solution that does not work is pushing the leftmost emerald framer one tile to the right. Doing this will temporarily block the skull, but not long enough to prevent it trom trapping Lolo in the bottom left hallway. This stresses how hard it is to predict what the skull will do--with each change you make, you have to imagine it tracking Lolo through a slightly different course.
There are two solutions that work:
Solution 1 - Push the leftmost emerald framer right, then push the middle emerald framer left. This is tied for second most complicated level manipulation in the stage, since it takes two pushes--one push on each emerald framer.
When I talk about how simple a level manipulation is, I really just mean how many emerald framer pushes it takes. This is the dumbest possible way to measure the complexity of level manipulation, so it gives me an easy entry point for commentary; later commentary would have to come back and address issues like, how easy is it to think about using two emerald framers versus one?
Solution 2 - Push the leftmost emerald framer right and then up. This takes two pushes, which ties it for second most complicated level manipulation in the stage. Because this gives the skull an opening, you're left with the strictest reaction challenge in the stage, which requires you to stay out of the skull's reach for the rest of the stage.
The skull presents the hardest prediction challenge in the stage and, no matter which way you cut it, the second most complicated level manipulation.
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This is tied for the second most complicated prediction in the stage. Gols will shoot at Lolo if he passes within their line of sight, and they never change the direction they face. Anyway, this prediction is simpler than the skull's because gol's reaction takes place in one step, no matter what context. However, the gol's fireball is not an instant death; if Lolo is far enough away when it is shot, he can avoid it. Planning for this timing challenge makes gols harder than medusas.
There are two solutions that completely block off the gol.
Soultion 1 - Take the middle emerald framer. Push it right, up, and then down. This takes three pushes, making it tied for the most complicated level manipulation.
Solution 2 - Take the middle emerald framer from the trio at the top right. Push it down once, then push it left into the boulder and down. That's three pushes, tying it for the most complicated level manipulation.
And a third solution that leaves a reaction challenge.
Solution 3 - Push the middle emerald framer either left or right. If you push it left, you can push it either up or down; if you push it right, you can only push it up. Either way, it's two separate pushes, tying it for the second most complicated level manipulation.
This leaves a gap in the very center of the room you can use to evade the gol's fire. This is the second hardest reaction challenge in the stage, since you only need to pass by the gol's vision before you reach safety.
Bear in mind that 4-3 only has two possible reaction challenges; other than the skull and the middle gol, no enemy can be evaded without completely nullifying its attack.
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This is the second most complicated prediction challenge in the stage, since it's the same as the middle gol.
Blocking the gol is trivial, since it just means pushing the topmost emerald framer one tile to the right. This is the third most complicated level manipulation in the stage, since it's just one push.
The real puzzle is getting past that trio of emerald framers at the top right, which may only be cleared by pushing the top emerald framer right, the bottom emerald framer right, and then the middle emerald framer either up or down. In fact, in clearing this puzzle, you will always block the medusa and the top right gol; there is no way to pass into the rightmost column of the room without blocking their fire.
It may be debated whether the gol and medusa are a way of incentivizing the player to clear the trio of emerald framers by first pushing the top and bottom emerald framers right. This is the only way to clear such a formation, and this formation will return in
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This is the third most complicated prediction challenge in the stage. If you pass within the medusa's line of sight without blocking it, Lolo will die instantly. The medusa's reaction takes place during one step, and you don't need to count how many tiles the medusa's attack will go; it stretches across the entire stage until hitting a boulder, emerald framer, or heart framer. Also note that the medusa is the only enemy in this stage that can act before you collect every heart framer.
Blocking the medusa is a matter of pushing the bottom emerald framer from the trio one tile to the right, tying it for third most complicated level manipulation.
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Again, this is the second most complicated prediction.
You can block the gol by pushing the bottom right emerald framer one tile left. This is tied for the simplest level manipulation. Interestingly, if you work left to right through the whole stage, this will be the last enemy you block. There is no way to get past the gol without blocking it, leaving no room for a reaction challenge.
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The skull was neither the hardest nor the easiest level manipulation challenge, but it posed both the greatest prediction and reaction challenges.
The medusa was among the simplest level manipulation challenges and was also the simplest prediction challenge. It left no room for reaction.
Predicting the gol's attack was both harder than the medusa and easier than the skull, and it's also the most common enemy in the stage. I think this gives the stage a well-rounded feel. You also get a wide range of gol uses; you can evade the first one, there's no way to get hit by the second one, and the last one absolutely must be blocked, but is a gimme.
Because gols are not instant death like medusa, they can be used in a variety of ways.
On the other hand, because they have some limiting elements (they can't move, and they can't change the direction they face), they play along well with block-pushing. The skulls do not because A) it takes more effort to block them off (you need to seal all possible entrances, like in skull level manipulation 2) and B) even if you don't successfully block them off, you can often just run away (like in skull level manipulation 1).
Statistics: Posted by Golem — Tue May 27, 2014 2:42 am
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in all seriousness great stuff
Statistics: Posted by Yourself — Sat May 24, 2014 6:03 pm
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Statistics: Posted by Zanreo — Sat May 24, 2014 5:57 pm
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If you have any ideas for other tags, please share!
Statistics: Posted by Golem — Sat May 24, 2014 4:18 pm
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7-1 solution
I reduced the last heart in the stage to a three-block puzzle, only the middle block is a gol. I wonder if there are alternate solutions here.
7-2
The solution here is symmetrical in that you can do the same thing on the left that you can on the right and vice versa, but it's not necessary that you follow through on that symmetry--you just need to solve one side.
7-3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBOLcbGqPqM
7-4
Which heart you get last is pretty optional, but you'll want one far away from the skull.
7-5
7-5 solution
Hooray for grass!
Statistics: Posted by Golem — Fri May 23, 2014 2:50 am
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Statistics: Posted by Golem — Fri May 23, 2014 1:33 am
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This stage has symmetry of structure and symmetry of solution--you need to push the blocks on the left the same way you push the blocks on the right. The middle blocks don't follow that rule, though. It's also worth noting that the very last block you can put in place is the top middle block.
Here, you can screw up the three-block puzzle.
Push the middle of the three blocks towards the middle of the room, and you're stuck--you can't push the rightmost block down because there's a tree in your way.
6-2
First time in the game where you have to take advantage of Lolo's half-tile movement! Otherwise, you can't block both medusas.
6-3
6-4
This one requires some neat use of currents. Wait until the egg goes all the way around to the right side of the medusa before hopping on!
6-5
Hmm. Maybe I ought to start tagging each stage with things like "symmetry of structure" and "leeper."
Statistics: Posted by Golem — Thu May 22, 2014 2:55 am
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The three-block puzzle goes through some neat iterations here, concluding with an enemy challenge. Sometime I should come back to this one and discuss it in specific. This is also the only stage in the game where you can block yourself from reaching the exit after grabbing the key.
5-2
You've got two important decisions here: how to push the blocks down on the bottom right there (by the arrow tile), and which arrow tile to flip first.
5-3
If you take the path with the arrow tile, you can't beat the stage. Why is the arrow tile there, just to trick the player? Also note that you have to kill a ton of snakeys in this stage, but that segment more or less plays itself.
5-4
5-4 solution
Take that, skulls!
5-5
In this one, you just have to watch the upcoming sequence of 3x3 tiles to make sure you don't walk into an arrow trap. There are even two cases, once on the bottom right and once on the bottom left, where you can put a block in an arrow trap so that you don't walk there. The blocks also create a challenge at the last minute when combined with that arrow tile and the medusa. Otherwise, I don't think the blocks add anything. In fact, you never need to use the blocks to cover the medusa's line of fire--everything is handled fine by the boulders.
The block/arrow tile setup at the top right can be solved using the three-block puzzle method, just excluding any moves you need to perform on the bottom block, since that's an arrow tile.
Statistics: Posted by Golem — Wed May 21, 2014 1:36 am
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So was 10-4, even though I kept getting stuck because I accidentally half-pushed eggs and blocks a bit too far :c
And 10-5 seemed a bit easy for the last level of the game? Kinda anticlimatic.
Anyway, that's one game on my backlog done, almost 90 more to go whoooo
Statistics: Posted by Zanreo — Sat May 17, 2014 3:09 pm
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10-1 solution
10-2
10-2 solution
10-3
10-3 solution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I93zXqjM4n8
10-4
10-4 solution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uob7_3k4pmQ
It's neat that both 10-3 and 10-4 revolve around taking advantage of the slug respawn. They're the only stages in the game that require you to use it, if I recall correctly. It's like that's the ultimate challenge of the game, the one they saved for last, and they squeezed two puzzles out of it.
10-5
http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/freytag.html
Statistics: Posted by Golem — Sat May 17, 2014 12:48 am
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