Finally finished the hold, it only took me all year.
Moves: 169590
Kills: 35524
Deaths: 1771
Time: 61:09:30 (This hold DID take me forever, although I think I may have just left DROD run all day a few times...)
3 secret rooms left to complete
Being just a lowly musician and not one of you logic-puzzle-superheroes, I'm quite proud that I actually finished this.
When I started this hold last August, I had just gone to college, and needed something to do since I go to a college with a rather anti-social student body. So I decided to check out what SmS's I didn't play for some reason or another.
"
Oh, this one's rated 9 brains...but I've beaten Perfection, KDD, JtRH, and just finished TCB, it can't be THAT much harder..."
The high path made me cocky. "
Oh, is it gonna be like this the whole time? No sweat, I'll finish this in...a week!"
Found myself on the first level now. Walked down the path, looked at room 1N1E..."
Oh, roach queen maze, no problem! Let's just see what the rest of these rooms are gonna be like."
"
Roach queen efficiency, timer and all, been there, done that!"
"
Hmm, I just gotta spawn some roaches to make a bridge of sorts, no sweat."
"
This looks like some generic mimic puzzle that I can kill in 5 minutes."
"
I have NO IDEA what to do in this room, but it will probably be obvious once I take three steps in."
But I sure underestimated the power of an architect named "
Doom."
"
Wait, how do I get the Roach Queen over there?? That doesn't seem physically possible! And why is that orb there?"
"
Jeez, there are like infinity roaches, how do I even get out of the second chambe...HOW IS THE TIMER ALREADY UP?"
"
What the...I can spawn three roaches, but there is NO WAY that I can make the 47289 more I actually need."
"
NO MATTER WHERE I PUT THE MIMIC THIS ROOM IS CLEARLY IMPOSSIBLE, WHERE IS MY GAMESHARK."
"
I STILL have no idea what to do in this room!"
So after being completely stumped on almost every room right off the bat, I knew I was in for a...slight challenge at least.
I solved maybe one or two of the rooms without a hint...after all, I knew what to do, just doing it was the hard part. But those were the EASY rooms. Rooms like First Level: 1N where most normal people (like myself) would just go "
K, I dunno where to start, hints plz"
were frustrating, but somehow I gave them all a chance. I was hoping I'd get the swing of the hold and hope some tricks would reoccur and everything would be just jim-dandy. Of course, this was not the case.
Every single room was one of four things:
A) "
I think I know what to do, but it sure is a challenge to do."
For example, First level 2N1E, I liked this one. Other rooms I especially liked that were a challenge, but I still had an idea of what to do were Level 2: 3S1E, Level 2: 1S, Level 3: 3W, and Level 4: 4S1E.
B) "
I know what to do...just kidding, maybe this is how to do it...just kidding again, that's slightly irritating, guess I'll check out the H&S."
I liked a few of these rooms, even though having no idea what to do (usually due to a red herring or thirteen). level 4: 1S1E I found fun once I knew what to do with the mimic. Level 5: 1E was also great once I read the trick I needed on H&S. Definitely wouldn't have solved most of those rooms without a hint, though.
C) "
My brain cannot possibly comprehend how this should work, everything looks impossible, I'll just download Larry's demo, because I know doing it myself will make me commit acts of violence towards my computer."
This is the category containing all of the dastardly evil secret rooms you've built/spawned and rooms like level 2: 3S. Even following a demo move-for-move, I couldn't solve the level three secret room. But then again, I cannot possibly comprehend how two wraithwings move together, and I doubt most of the more casual, non-mathgod players could either.
D) "
OH THANK GOD. IT'S A STAIRCASE."
I really enjoyed all of the rooms I can put in group A (Which is probably a single-digit number...), and some of them in B, but for someone like me, there were way too many "
C"
rooms in this hold for a SmS. I would spend hours sitting just trying to figure out how the room even works. This would lead to frustration, me snapping at my roommate, late nights, forgotten schoolwork, rising gas prices, widespread power outaqes, tornadoes, famines and droughts. I may have exaggerated that a bit, but I don't think I've ever done something this challenging. Every room was brilliant, evil, or some combination of the two. So I really have mixed feelings about this hold. Personally I feel it was way too hard to be an SmS, but that's not to say it isn't brilliant...I agree with banjooie that if you're like me and wanted the complete canonical story, it shouldn't have been this hard to see it.
Gave it a 10 for difficulty, and a 7 for fun...there were too many rooms that are impossible for a peasant like myself, but the ones I could solve I loved.
In my quest towards mastery, I found some wonkiness...Correct me if I'm wrong, but does the secret room at
Click here to view the secret text
×Fourth Level 1S2E
no longer exist? The game says I've completed it, which I found odd, so I looked at the H&S board for it, but the room doesn't exist on the minimap...otherwise I only have 3 secret rooms left, all of which look dastardly. I'm hoping it's worth it.
keep up the good work 
.
I just love that room 
