Metanet Forums

My brother thinks that the 'play now' levels are better than all user levels. {cough, cough, Lotsortuga, spudzalot, toasters, etc.} what do you think?

Is he freaking kidding? If not, there's no other way to put it: Your brother is an idiot.

Some User Levels are better than some Metanet levels, and vice-versa.

Also, plenty of userlevels are similar to the 'play now' levels. There are a lot more of them; so there is more to choose from.

It's probably the general feel, so to speak, of metanet levels that is more...natural I think. Userlevels tend to drift away from the common style he may have gotten used to, and that's probably why he doesn't like them as much. Yet. Just get him to play around more with some levels. Toss him some old-school Maximo or Stepself and he'll learn to love the beauty of userlevels.

I totally agree with what bonzai said, those Metanet levels do have that certain something in them. However, it is nice to play levels that other people have contributed to the community. In retrospect, I think that your brother is right.

I love the "play now" levels and all, but user levels are just so much more diverse.

User levels ftw!

I agree with your brother.

Although that may be because they are in the more-or-less campaign part of the game, and I never seem to get into the random community driven portions of any games (I have made like 15 maps, in 3 years)

i like the 'play now' levels better than most of the 'user levels'

Both the Metanet and user made levels have their pros and cons. The Metanet formula produced some of our favourite maps with the style that we love so much. With user levels, you've had plenty of innovations over the years, and we've branched so far since he original 'action' and 'puzzle' categories. We've been able to explore the full capabilities of Ned that Mare and Raigan never really did.

All userlevels? No.

Userlevels can be infinite, and thus I think they are better. That being said, "play now" is many times faster than waiting to play userlevels.

'Play Game' levels are simple and boring. The user levels are the real thing, different concepts, different genres, different complexities.
Go MTI! (Wait, that's part of the 'play game' too :D)

It's simply a matter of preference. Mare and Raigan made some very good maps; there's no getting around that. We have since branched out and gone far beyond their expectations, so naturally, our levels will be viewed as better. But, there are times when you just want to sit down with a relaxing Metanet map, straight from the game. They are the origin of all inspiration for user levels, and it's really hard to compare the user levels of today with the original in-game levels. I prefer the former, but can see why someone would appreciate the latter more.

Jiggerjaw wrote:It's simply a matter of preference. Mare and Raigan made some very good maps; there's no getting around that. We have since branched out and gone far beyond their expectations, so naturally, our levels will be viewed as better. But, there are times when you just want to sit down with a relaxing Metanet map, straight from the game. They are the origin of all inspiration for user levels, and it's really hard to compare the user levels of today with the original in-game levels. I prefer the former, but can see why someone would appreciate the latter more.

I agree. Th mere fact that M+R sat down and made so many great, timeless levels is a testament to their ability as map makers. Obviously the community will be able to produce gems that shine greater than even those from the original game. For one thing, the community is many people, each with their own ideas and each evolving with the rest of the community. As the community continuously produces new and exciting maps, the bar is set even higher. M+R's original levels were amazing for their day, and in some aspects, still are.

Woa... didn't exxpect this much attention!

I think I've always like M&R's levels a lot, and found the jiggeddy-jaggedy styles of losttortuga and other anti-metanet-styled mappers a bit less... homemade. Maybe that stems from having not actually gotten my hands on Nv1.4 until I had beaten the first three columns on an illegal version.

Userlevels hands down no question.

Userlevels has a much wider range as there are soooo many more people contributing to them. But M&R's levels still have a timeless quality to them, and a totally unique atmosphere, that is almost impossible for anyone else to replicate.

Your brother probably did not know there were much more userlevels then just the standard package.
But, especially in the beginning, I can see why he things the normal levels are better.
But I would go for userlevels. For all the reasons the other guys already mentioned.
Also I agree with the guy who said that the normal levels have a special atmosphere.

EDIT: that would be condog, :)

Most of the user levels are only for when you master the game so no, your brother isn't an idiot if you just wanna get good at the game then play the user levels.

A1cAviation wrote:Most of the user levels are only for when you master the game so no, your brother isn't an idiot if you just wanna get good at the game then play the user levels.

I mean he thinks that the aesthetics, gamepley, gold placement, etc., are better than all userlevels.

it's spelt Losttortuga. user levels = play now levels

I think it's funny that your choice of 3 authors to represent "userlevels" was losttortuga, spudz, and toasters.

On topic, I'm not really a fan of Metanet levels, but they're alright. The original 60 are definitely the least interesting, IMO. M&R's mapping abilities definitely progressed as they released new columns.

M&R i think just made the levels harder the more you got through not that there map making skills improved but i guess you can go either way.

Also Play Now are Really Fun and Challenging but userlevels has its moments so i vote for play now

I reckon user levels are better because people make them and you get to choose what levels you want so i reckon userlevels

matttaylor wrote:because people make them

People made the "Play Now" levels as well. *cough*