Descent II, Level 24, insane difficulty, cold start, no death, full rescue, 200 HP at "exit"
Difficulty rating: 4 (very hard) "No more, I'm done, all it's left is go home, get money... and sleep in the next 2 years...." Or maybe not because of that fuckin' warp core, pfff... Someone mentioned the Vertigo levels... No mid level saves, but due to the secret level (and my mistake of backing out from it), I needed to record this one in 4 parts, because the game keeps stoping the recording. After killing the boss, you don't need to find the exit: the game ends there. But the demo playback doesn't start the final scene, so at the end I needed a short trainee run to record the final cut scene... Editing this video took more time than the ca. 50 attempts I invested into this level today. I used D1 level 22 background music for this final level, and D1 level 6 music for the secret level. About playing this level: There are gazillions of shields in the secret level and in the boss room, that's why I managed to do it on 200. This level is circular, with a wide corridor at the equator, and two narrow latitudinals The best way to avoid most the spawn fire is running circles in the starting cell. Next try to clear all those pesky omegas before proceed, running into a smart mine isn't too good. Beating that lou guard with laser is pure luck, if it start spamming you with homer missiles, you are in a deep trouble... After this go south (downwards). If you go north a wall spawns an locks the way back (and potentially the invulnerability the lou dropped). At the north pole there are 2 boarsheads, they are in a snipable position due to the lack of space they tend to self-destruct. 3:40 At this point I completely runned out of energy, but even on the 0 point you can use flares, once in 2 seconds. I managed to get the gauss and stuff this way. 4:30 clearing the energy center, the 2 spider guarding it in a snipable position. Do not go any closer without killing them. 5:50 Going for the blue key: use your smart missiles to destroy those 4 spiders. 7:50 Going for the yellow key: I thought I can forget those pesky sidearm modulas, but they blind you once again. To get the key you have to release 2 boarsheads and spiders, use you missiles to get them. But this region is pure luck, as the foes' moves are unpredictable. 11:00 Secret level. Destroying the reactor and the sub reactors give you 20 seconds before meltdown. The sub reactors have the class 1 drone sound and they can turn. They are just like a regular robot. 15:50 That lou guard disappeared. (Then it almost killed me at the end...) 16:20 Going for the red key: I expended all my mega missiles here. They won't be too useful for the boss fight... Do not enter the red door from this room because that will active the tiny matcen the center, it spawns spider and guards, not worth it. 18:20 Boss fight. 21:00 Final scene.
Difficulty rating: 4 (very hard) "No more, I'm done, all it's left is go home, get money... and sleep in the next 2 years...." Or maybe not because of that fuckin' warp core, pfff... Someone mentioned the Vertigo levels... No mid level saves, but due to the secret level (and my mistake of backing out from it), I needed to record this one in 4 parts, because the game keeps stoping the recording. After killing the boss, you don't need to find the exit: the game ends there. But the demo playback doesn't start the final scene, so at the end I needed a short trainee run to record the final cut scene... Editing this video took more time than the ca. 50 attempts I invested into this level today. I used D1 level 22 background music for this final level, and D1 level 6 music for the secret level. About playing this level: There are gazillions of shields in the secret level and in the boss room, that's why I managed to do it on 200. This level is circular, with a wide corridor at the equator, and two narrow latitudinals The best way to avoid most the spawn fire is running circles in the starting cell. Next try to clear all those pesky omegas before proceed, running into a smart mine isn't too good. Beating that lou guard with laser is pure luck, if it start spamming you with homer missiles, you are in a deep trouble... After this go south (downwards). If you go north a wall spawns an locks the way back (and potentially the invulnerability the lou dropped). At the north pole there are 2 boarsheads, they are in a snipable position due to the lack of space they tend to self-destruct. 3:40 At this point I completely runned out of energy, but even on the 0 point you can use flares, once in 2 seconds. I managed to get the gauss and stuff this way. 4:30 clearing the energy center, the 2 spider guarding it in a snipable position. Do not go any closer without killing them. 5:50 Going for the blue key: use your smart missiles to destroy those 4 spiders. 7:50 Going for the yellow key: I thought I can forget those pesky sidearm modulas, but they blind you once again. To get the key you have to release 2 boarsheads and spiders, use you missiles to get them. But this region is pure luck, as the foes' moves are unpredictable. 11:00 Secret level. Destroying the reactor and the sub reactors give you 20 seconds before meltdown. The sub reactors have the class 1 drone sound and they can turn. They are just like a regular robot. 15:50 That lou guard disappeared. (Then it almost killed me at the end...) 16:20 Going for the red key: I expended all my mega missiles here. They won't be too useful for the boss fight... Do not enter the red door from this room because that will active the tiny matcen the center, it spawns spider and guards, not worth it. 18:20 Boss fight. 21:00 Final scene.