SM64 Lost Universe 2: Curse of Eternity Part 7 - Pit of Grief
00:00 Jump Down the Big Hole
2:32 Break into the Gloomy Hut
4:10 If it's short, it must be Easy!
5:04 Chamber of Grief
7:24 Stalagmite Passageway
10:12 100 Coins
15:06 Time to Suffer
18:34 Lost Gems of a Dreadful Semi-Hell
LU2 is starting to ramp up the difficulty! Even though Metal Cap was a thoroughly difficult level with several hard stars, this stage is the first with a classic challenging Red Coin Star. I'll start off by saying the gimmicks here were really fun. The Lava bouncing tunnel is probably the highlight section. Also, in general I found this level really fun to play and practice. It was a nice breath of fresh air compared to IoC C15 in that regard.
When I first ran through the red coins, they legitimately felt like a tier 6. However, it turns out this is probably one of the most cheeseable levels. You can skip nearly the whole path for the Gloomy Hut Star (thank goodness because even Amsixx said that part is precise). I also found some cheese myself where you don't really need to do those offsets. If you watch my route, you will see what I did. Even with all this cheese, it is still a hard star though. Having to do those precise wallkicks twice was brutal and scary. I also struggled with finding a good camera for the Vanish Cap dropdown part. You could definitely get reds in under 10 minutes, but I always got stuck on the Bob-Omb part forever. I feel like that part should have been for a star rather than a red.
Overall, I enjoy this level a lot - even reds. But come to think of it, there are some questionable design choices. I believe you directly pass 3 normal stars while you are doing reds. There is also a handful of jumps you have to do twice because of mini reclimbs. I want to give this level a 9/10, but I feel like these small issues compile to drag it down to an 8/10.
Rating for this level: 8/10