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File: Magic Show 2.hold (20.6 KB)
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Yes, the Magic Show is back in town. This time the magician has a whole new bag of tricks. What are you waiting for? The fans are awaiting your performance. Grab your wand, err... sword, and get going!!

Thanks to testers-
Doom
jbluestein
Stephen4Louise

Pilchard VIII
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 392
Registered: 01-21-2006
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Ohmygod Ohmygod Ohmygod! A Magic Show sequel! I have got to try this one!

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The DROD Dragon

goldenferret
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 57
Registered: 10-08-2006
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Incredibly difficult... but I wouldn't expect anything less from a larrymurk hold.

____________________________
Smiles are a universal language.

Would you like to listen to some music?

jbluestein
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1670
Registered: 12-23-2005
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Another excellent hold by Larry. Nowhere near as difficult as the first Magic Show, the hold itself is firmly in the middle, difficulty-wise. Quality is high throughout.

Which is not to say that there aren't some extremely difficult rooms in there.

Overall, I give the hold a 9 for fun, and 7 brains of difficulty.

Josh

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"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

Dex Stewart
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 355
Registered: 01-19-2007
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Awww shucks... Larry made a TCB hold and I can only play it in 6 days' time .

Remlin
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 181
Registered: 04-28-2005
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Not done yet, but wow, what a great hold. I've skipped some of the more recent holds, but of the 3.0 holds I've played this is the really the only one that's shown me puzzles that wouldn't have been possible in 2.0. Excellent use of the new elements.

I sort of miss your usual format of breaking levels up by difficulty instead of theme. My brain needs a warmup before I can do your harder rooms. Whereas here, sometimes the layout actually worked to make me do the harder rooms first. Secret Path 1N1W for example was much harder than the other rooms on the level, but from the position of the level entrance it's probably the first room you'll try.

larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1917
Registered: 12-09-2004
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Glad you're having fun Remlin.

As for room order, I just put them in randomly so no order of difficulty was intended.

And as for Secret Paths:1N1W, I originally made this room with a lot of extra moves intentionally because rooms don't have to be hard to be fun, right? Then a certain tester whose name I won't mention suggested I might make the room a lot tighter, so... Hey, what can I say? Blame it on Doom (oops, I wasn't going to say that). Oh, come on, you know this room is more fun now don't you?!?!?!

Doom
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3303
Registered: 07-05-2004
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larrymurk wrote:
And as for Secret Paths:1N1W, I originally made this room with a lot of extra moves intentionally because rooms don't have to be hard to be fun, right? Then a certain tester whose name I won't mention suggested I might make the room a lot tighter, so... Hey, what can I say? Blame it on Doom (oops, I wasn't going to say that). Oh, come on, you know this room is more fun now don't you?!?!?!

Hey, it was entirely up to you to decide if/how much you wanted to alter the timer

But.. yeah, there was a lot of slack in the first version. Like nearly twenty moves using the optimal route, iirc. Pen and paper (even if on computer screen) worked pretty well, by the way.

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3648
Registered: 10-06-2005
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I disagree - I think Secret Path 1N1W is much easier than 1S, because it's "oh, yeah, make the path as long as you can" and it just took a few tries to figure out how to get in and out properly.

I had a bit of fun figuring out how to make the path one square longer at the end too

I'm still trying to figure out 1S though - arguably the fact that the paths need to sync at the pressure plates should narrow it down, but it's not helping. I'll figure it out eventually though. But I think 1S is a harder room because it's certainly not as easy for me to figure out exactly what I need to do.

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Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

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[Last edited by Chaco at 07-31-2007 12:05 AM]

Tahnan
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2460
Registered: 11-14-2005
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I think there's a lot to be said for this layout; sure, "getting harder" is sometimes nice, but I rather enjoyed being able to bounce from room to room, level to level. I'd be mildly interested to know what order I solved the rooms in; I suspect I solved at least one on each level before I finished any level entirely.

Briareos
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3516
Registered: 08-07-2005
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Chaco wrote:
I'm still trying to figure out 1S though - arguably the fact that the paths need to sync at the pressure plates should narrow it down, but it's not helping. I'll figure it out eventually though. But I think 1S is a harder room because it's certainly not as easy for me to figure out exactly what I need to do.

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"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

hikagi
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 29
Registered: 02-19-2007
IP: Logged

Wow, this was a really fun hold! I wasn't able to beat the first one, even in the editor mode, but this one kept my attention until each level slowly reached completion. I especially liked how the little things played a big part in some solutions. Overall, as with most of your other rooms, I love how most of the rooms seem impossible at first, but simple determination proves otherwise, as is the 'Magic' theme.

One thing that would have been nice to add is if once the rooms were complete, the intro scrolls changed from speculatory comments to those of amazement. I'm pretty sure its possible as Beethro was able to sign in to that scroll in that secret room in TCB...

Other than that, nice job! The grand illusion in this edition definately made me feel like more of a magician than the previous installment.

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I wish I were your derrivitive so I could lay tangent to your curves <3

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[Last edited by hikagi at 08-05-2007 02:44 AM]

Syntax
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1218
Registered: 05-12-2005
IP: Logged

Not finished, but explored.

This hold gets a 10 from me, no doubt about it. Brilliant.

porcorosso
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 37
Registered: 01-23-2007
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I have not finished this hold (yet) 3 rooms to go, but I must join the others to express my gratitude and awe for yet another magic show, which is no less fun than the first, just as excellent and maybe a bit less challenging, but thats because we all get better at performing magic over time ....
By the way about 1N1W , I actually think that the tighter the better, and indeed for me it was not as hard as some of the other rooms that required some H&S help. In my second or third try I managed it only one move short, but when I found the better strategy I was 'dissapointed' to see that I had 3 extra moves to beat the timer...

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[Last edited by porcorosso at 08-13-2007 01:22 PM]

talund
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 95
Registered: 05-17-2005
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Addictive, diabolical and thought provoking. Found myself over thinking some of the easier rooms simply because this is a larrymurk hold. Very enjoyable and, as always, I look forward to being challenged by yet another larrymurk hold.

Giant-Nator22
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 2
Registered: 09-07-2007
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Gosh, I feel like some sort of really weak person for saying this but

THIS IS REALLY HARD!

It seems as if all the levels are nearly impossible. So I spent most of my time scouting around and checking rooms.

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I just know, that somebody, hates me. Just, completely hates me. Or worse, everyone.

Syntax
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1218
Registered: 05-12-2005
IP: Logged

8 1/2 brains should be an indication that it's a hard hold. The fact the architect is larrymurk, even more so

Neathro
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 41
Registered: 04-24-2007
IP: Logged

I ACTUALLY BEAT A ROOM!
Edit after calm down:
Infinite enemies, the one with the crumbly walls.

____________________________
This is not a signature, it is a
collection of randomly selected
words. Teaspoon.

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[Last edited by Neathro at 09-14-2007 09:19 PM]