11-Apr-2016, 4:13 PM
Hi, I guess I'm momentarily back. Recently I was hungry for a new puzzle game and decided to play through CCLP1. I was heavily active in the months before CCLP1, but burnt out too early to really play through it. I beat about 25 levels when the set was released, but quickly lost motivation and quit CC. So this was, for the most part, blind. I played the game on tile world lynx (as opposed to the awful, buggy and somehow popular 5fps port) and beat all but one level in 4 days. This isn't my return to the community, I simply felt like playing CC recently. I feel like I have somewhat of an outsiders perspective and haven't really been influenced by the hype.
The set starts of exactly as you'd expect. However, after the well-picked lesson levels, CCLP1 presents a medley of about 80 levels which were all designed for the level 15 slot. No individual level was actually bad, however by level 100 I noticed that the set I was playing through hadn't reached Tossed Salad difficulty yet. Am I really not trusted to figure out how to dodge the enemies 2 seconds into Starry Night, or experiment on puzzles? I remembered back to the strategic dodging on Digger and Blobdance; the creative puzzles Four Square and Catacombs; and Blobdance and On The Rocks, which dared to be difficult. Due to an excessive focus on beginner-friendliness and "fair" design (can it be beaten it in 1 try), CCLP1 is simply boring. This is not a replacement for CC1.
I understand that this game was targeted at beginners, not me, so please don't get too offended by anything I say. I know I'm being harsh. But this is just how I personally felt about the set.
After the early-game snoozefest, however, the set becomes a lot better, and I enjoyed most of the triple digit levels. If only the set had reached this point sooner, and I see no reason why it didn't, I would've really like it overall. Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me was hands down my favourite level in the set. I guess that shows what kind of a game I was hoping for.
Will I come back for CCLP4? Perhaps. Right now I'm even entertaining the idea of LPing it, but who knows how many times I'll change my mind in the decade before it gets released. One thing's for sure: if I ever play that Chips Challenge set, it's because I want a challenge. Something with a difficulty peak that puts CCLP3 to shame. But that seems unlikely, since certain members of the community will denounce anything that takes them more than one attempt to beat. At the very least, I want that feeling of being stumped by a puzzle. And that feeling of solving it after so much time and thought. I only weakly felt that twice in the four days it took me to finish this set.
The set starts of exactly as you'd expect. However, after the well-picked lesson levels, CCLP1 presents a medley of about 80 levels which were all designed for the level 15 slot. No individual level was actually bad, however by level 100 I noticed that the set I was playing through hadn't reached Tossed Salad difficulty yet. Am I really not trusted to figure out how to dodge the enemies 2 seconds into Starry Night, or experiment on puzzles? I remembered back to the strategic dodging on Digger and Blobdance; the creative puzzles Four Square and Catacombs; and Blobdance and On The Rocks, which dared to be difficult. Due to an excessive focus on beginner-friendliness and "fair" design (can it be beaten it in 1 try), CCLP1 is simply boring. This is not a replacement for CC1.
I understand that this game was targeted at beginners, not me, so please don't get too offended by anything I say. I know I'm being harsh. But this is just how I personally felt about the set.
After the early-game snoozefest, however, the set becomes a lot better, and I enjoyed most of the triple digit levels. If only the set had reached this point sooner, and I see no reason why it didn't, I would've really like it overall. Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me was hands down my favourite level in the set. I guess that shows what kind of a game I was hoping for.
Will I come back for CCLP4? Perhaps. Right now I'm even entertaining the idea of LPing it, but who knows how many times I'll change my mind in the decade before it gets released. One thing's for sure: if I ever play that Chips Challenge set, it's because I want a challenge. Something with a difficulty peak that puts CCLP3 to shame. But that seems unlikely, since certain members of the community will denounce anything that takes them more than one attempt to beat. At the very least, I want that feeling of being stumped by a puzzle. And that feeling of solving it after so much time and thought. I only weakly felt that twice in the four days it took me to finish this set.