Descent 1 LOTW, R&D 2, Behind the scenes, likely impossible to do...
UPDTE: I. 3: Today I tried again. I managed to do it with 1 midlevel saves only. I uploaded the demos to my google drive so I don't lose it again...
UPDATE: I. 2: Finally made a run with only 1 mid level saves... But happiness didn't last too long. I spent the rest of the time in an attempt to do a no death run without mid level saves... I intentionally planned to change the text in the "save recorded file" to avoid overwriting but instead of pressing backspace I subconsciously pressed enter and overwrote it... 2 days effort is gone... Shit! I was like our hero when his warp core gone bad at the end of the Descent 2... "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING, THIS ISN'T HAPPENING... NOOO...."
UPDATE: XII. 31: Trying to reduce the number of saves by surviving the traps and killing the roaming rocket mechs in one run. Got it. Now I have a checkpoint with 22HP and 32 energy. (The another checkpoint is after 2 saves at the same place with 48HP and 32 energy). No a strong position, but I always die due to ambushes, so it doesn't matter a lot how much HP I have...
So well there is some chance I can got it in 1 midlevel saves. 2 weeks of trying left.
UPDATE: XII. 28: Got it using only 3 mid level savepoints.
UPDATE: XII. 27: I skipped the christmas season, but today I'm trying again. Well... By using 4 mid level savepoints I managed to beat and record this level at 40HP... I will keep attempting until 15th January, hopefully I can work on the number of saves.
UPDATE: XII. 22: No progress...
UPDATE: XII. 17: The struggle continues. The level designer closed all the loopholes. You cannot destroy that class2 drone without releasing the green platformers it's too far away. So you have to pray so the won't rush after you a send another volley of missiles after you in that tunnel. The rocket mech again guarding the blue door again... So I need to lower the bar further. Spending just 20-30 minutes to hope once you get past the death draps is not productive, so I'll save there. And record it in two parts. But you are still aren't there yet. 3 roaming rocket mechs guard the yellow key, and you cannot escape if they find you.
UPDATE: XII. 15: During today's struggle, I managed to get past the death traps at 50hp. I don't know why... But the rest of the level is still crazy!
UPDATE: XII. 14: Struggled today again. I was finally lucky enough to get past the blue door with 30+hp... Once in a hundred attempts. But a stationing green platformer came up when I accidentally opened a door and killed me on the spot... Sigh...
Death traps opening in the adjacent cubes containing rocket mechs are simply cannot be survived... You completely depend on the mercy of robots whether they want to fire 2 or 3 missiles. Just the spash damage cost you 30-40 shelds a direct hit takes more than 50hp. Pure luck, no skill... 100% distilled frustration.
UPDATE: XII. 13: Today I tryed to do it while recording... I couldn't even get past the first green platformers alive... I don't know what I did wrong... Yesterday all 1 in 3 attempts were successful and I could get past them over 80... Now not even a single attempt was successful... Sometimes I managed to get past them I died right away always. More than 100 attempts, not even a single time I managed to get past the blue door.
UPDATE: XII. 12: With lots of saves and reloads I beat this level at about 40 shields... So it's at least mathematically possible to beat it... I'm still not sure whether I can do it in one run without reloads... Simply it's not up to me... It's all depends on robots whether they want to fire or not... It's pure luck like lottery. No skills, luck.
There is a good chance I'll never beat this level over 100... I will be happy if I can ever beat this without dying on insane! Trap doors opening right next to you or accidentally bumping into one is pure evil... Curving corridors make avoiding splash damage from missiles practically impossible.
How are you supposed to survive that?! I also double checked it in level editor hoping for some loophole or something like that would make it easier... But not, that's unavoidable damage. Which pushes you back likely below 30 hp and there are simply not enough shields in this level that would let you recharge even if you do the rest completely unscratched, which I strongly doubt.
You can fast forward to 41:00 where I beat this level with invulnerability cheat...
My policy is: Don't spend more than a month with any level, if it's not possible it's not possible.
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Calmarius currently has 50,788 views spread across 102 videos for Descent II. His channel published over 1 day worth of content for the game, or 39.49% of the total watchable video for Descent II on Calmarius's YouTube channel.