NOT AN APRIL FOOLS VIDEO!!! hope you all enjoy!! ❤❤❤ just wanna remind everyone that while you might not love every one of these levels the way i do, this is an opinion-based video! everything i say here is my genuine feelings abt all these levels, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to feel the same way i do- you might dislike or have different things you like abt any of the levels here :0 keep that in mind when watching and commenting!! thanks :) by the way, if you notice anything silly in the video, don’t pay it too much attention hehehe i may or may not have made some bets with friends to add a few silly details, so don’t be too surprised x)
@@norkbork kind of annoying to make people wait longer for it, even if just for a day. Although, having the video release on april fool’s day would make the people that thought that it was a joke the real fools.
@@Periwinkleaccount bro?😭 premiering videos like this with a release date is a youtube strategy to get more hype for the vide, i’m pretty sure you’ll live waiting an extra day lol
@@norkbork really, it just annoys me since it’s just making someone wait longer for a stupid reason. I think that it’s less “I’m so hyped for the new video!” But more “just have the video be released already, I shouldn’t have to wait longer since the video’s already finished” Also, why would it get more views if a premiere is used? I’m pretty sure that someone clicking on the video before it’s premiered won’t count as an extra view, and I also feel like missing the premiere just feels like missing out on watching it with actually-live live chat rather than just replaying the live chat.
Nork, Thank you so much for making a video like this. As someone who’s been pretty active in the ILL community for the last 2 years I can safely say that the ILL (and modern day impossible levels as a whole) have never really been interconnected with the general GD community. So seeing a video from someone who is more prominent in the general GD community bringing positive attention to modern impossible levels is just amazing
I'm not gonna lie, the way you analyzed these levels is one of the most entertaining video styles I have ever seen, it is so cool to view mysterious levels, especially impossible ones, based off their story, feeling, and atmosphere, rather than comparing them to your typical level. I am so glad you were able to finish this video, and I can't wait to see what you've got planned next! Worth the wait :)
great video! personally i like some of these a lot more than others but your interpretation definitely adds onto the artistic value of these levels imo, im glad you like these levels so much enough to make a video on the subject! (oh btw at 6:55 i kinda disagree that cyberphobia's predrop doesnt feel like a nine circles style level, as i feel like theres heavy inspiration from viprin's original sonic wave infinity deco called back in the predrop of it, but other than that yeah) im a little disappointed to see that some of the old versions of the levels are used here though, as I feel like levels such as singularity, cyberphobia, and ballistic wistfully have their updates greatly improve their stylistic choices and feel a lot fuller. in singularity's case, the whole gimmick was more subtle in the old version, and the update makes it a lot more accurate to my initial vision. i cant speak for eightos or miqro, but i can tell you my own intent for singularity in this comment at least. in singularity, most people only notice the gimmick with the gameplay difficulty, but the progression is similar for all aspects of it. im glad you also picked up on the deco complexity, with it starting out simple and every few % progressed adding a new subtle element that stays for the rest of the level. it also gets more chaotic with pulses and movement throughout, and even things outside the level such as the trigger organization above the level in the editor matches the gimmick I was going for. the "story" the level tells is very broad and subtle, left to interpretation of the player, but small clues throughout the level hint at it being set in a technological future, the year 3000 specifically, and that as the name implies, the artificial intelligence singularity has just occured, and every aspect of the player's world is being changed at an impossible to keep up with rate, mirroring the difficulty of the level, and the player either has to accept their fate or somehow outpace technology itself. i hope you liked hearing about my sort of ideas for the level that i had when building, im sure most creators do stuff like this but i always like to put a bit of storyline in a lot of my levels so its always fun to tell them when people analyze stuff like this.
did you have any sort of hidden meaning when you were making dystopia or subsuming vortex, im a big fan of those levels too. Also I always imagined that the lvel got harder as you approached the point of no returne of the black hole, like the start was like the black hole beginning to pull you and the end was the actual singularity of the black hole
Cyclocyc is a perfect number 1 impossible level. It is honestly a work of art. It's almost like it speaks to the viewer that, yeah, this is the upper limit of what is physically possible in this 3 dollar cube game
37:37 as i was watching this, i realized that they're not circles, they're question marks, and i thought that was just absolutely the cherry on top of this part
dude your analysis of cyclolcyc sent me into an hour long sense of general terror of how other realities could be so violently horrifying for us humans and how we are lucky to live in such a catered to universe. I know this is kinda random but it was a surreal experiance im glad i got to experience (even if it was horrifying lol). Thanks!
Wistfully has always been my favorite impossible level ever since I first saw it, but for very different reasons than what you described. I think the story you gleaned from your own interpretation is fascinating, and if the creators did intend that, it may unlock a whole new side of my own appreciation for the level. Loved the insight on this one. Was fun seeing your progress updates on Twitter. Glad to see you back in full swing.
I absolutely adore how you're explaining your visions of a story behind those levels, this is an aspect I really love seeing in a level and thus your video made me appreciate Wistfully, Tax Evasion and CYCLOLCYC even more
i personally am not that into impossible levels, but this was still enjoyable to watch! glad to see you back. looking forward to whatever you're going to work on next, much love :)
it’s really cool you’re able to interpret meanings through these demons. i’ve never thought too much of the ILL but this has persuaded me into checking more of them out. the best part of impossible levels are that they serve as art forms rather than playable levels. and levels with less decoration, although aren’t praised as much by the community, are more open for interpretation which is something all art should strive for. nonetheless glad you’re back, great video! also that minecraft clip in famosa caught me so off guard LOL
I've always enjoyed how unique and interesting the ILL levels could be since they have no real limitations to them allowing for creators to utilize the GD editor in ways most levels can't. Really glad you decided to make this video showing these levels off with your own interpretation of them along side a review of the decoration and unique atmosphere they all create. Cyberphobia and Tax Evasion are my personal favorites on the list.
Amazing analysis, very wholesome RU-vidr. I was already in love with impossible levels, but you made me appreciate them a whole lot more with this video. Wish you the best for the future, you have great narrative skills.
something i wanna point out with ballistic wistfully and cyclolcyc, is the use of flickering the player's icons, and more importantly the effect that has on the TRAIL. the trail, the player's only indication of where they've been and where they're going, disappears with every flicker, making the level feel even more disorientating. not only that, but it makes the icon feel smaller in comparison to its surroundings, since the trail would normally be taking up some space. this really helps with the overall oppressive and confusing atmosphere both these levels have
Hey nork. I have been a massive fan of your channel ever since your very early uploads. Your pure mastery over documentary styled videos truly shows in the wording of each sentence you say. The scripts are absolutely mind blowing and not once did I feel bored while watching this movie of a video. I got so many new perspectives on these levels that I now can fully appreciate the level of detail and effort put into each level. Thank you so much for uploading this, and I am very excited to see what the future of your channel holds. (PS. if you ever make a youtube membership I am surely joining it :)
I loved your analysis of Formosa, but my personal interpretation is that it's a more uncanny level. The dark, foggy, staticky beginning lends itself to a very eery atmosphere which is a stark contrast to the rest of the level and gives it a big feeling of unease. In the beginning it had the vibe of an endless repetetive hellscape which also sticks in the more colourful parts, the different gamemodes don't actually change that much about the gameplay becauuse of the heavy use of orbs for music sync which also relates to a more unforgiving ruthless level. This also goes for the block design which only go through minor changes, and of course the jagged movements of the background which give the strong feeling that something isn't quite right. To me the whole level seems like an illusion for something much darker and is quite similar to ballistic wistfully in that it's a cheerful facade over some more sinister themes. Great analysis video though! I loved your take on wistfully!
Wow all of the creators of these levels have something unique about them, but I feel like eightos is truly the king of creatin on the top he makes so many different styles !!!🔥
great video dude, i seriously respect you for putting this much time into your videos even if you don't upload very often. i thoroughly enjoyed this :)
I was looking for your demon list after firework video for super long and I finally found it and saw you uploaded yesterday. You should definitely make an updated version of a demon list video because that last one was so good
i love more analytical attention being drawn to impossible levels.. with gd and gd youtube being what they are the focus is ofc always on the difficulty instead of the quality of their design/atmosphere etc., although i'm not sure that this particular style of analysis where you outline a story that is created by a level is really to my taste - often it's very difficult for other people to get attached to because its connections to and evidence within the level itself can frequently be pretty sparse and unconvincing. that said, i think one benefit of this way of looking at levels is that it can encourage you to think about what you personally get out of a level rather than what the creator wanted you to get out of it, and that's something that's displayed well in this video, especially when you connect it to knowledge and context you gain from your personal life (e.g. looking more in detail at the music). even if it can be difficult for viewers to relate to this kind of thing, i def still resonate with the way you outline how the general atmospheres and vibes in levels like cyclolcyc/ballistic wistfully/formosa are developed. one thing i do wish you had taken a little more time to look into, and something that i always think about when watching impossible levels, is how exactly the level is served by being impossible. for me, song representation is king for level quality, and difficulty comes as a side effect of choosing the appropriate style of gameplay for your level in working with the song (as well as sometimes being a goal in itself to acheive this). i feel the same about a lot of impossible levels as you do with joke resubmission - decisions made in these levels often feel like they are made purely to aid the difficulty, regardless of song representation, and it sucks that the ILL is clogged with levels like this. i feel so much frustration that people aren't using the fact that they have literally zero limitations on their gp if they don't care about a level being verified legitimately to better aid how they work with the song, and the rare levels that do pull this off stick out to me a lot as a result. a few are in this video: one thing i like a lot about formosa is how well the jittery and frantic gameplay (even in the ship) matches so well with what's happening in the music. outside of song representation there's also just some really interesting side effects of making impossible gameplay that some creators explore. i actually noticed one watching back cyclolcyc - you can see that in some of the wave parts, the player trail is hidden exactly at the moment where the wave changes angle when releasing/pressing a button, creating an effect that makes it seem like the wave is only going up or down. this is something that's only acheiveable because the level is so difficult that there's no possible way to deviate from the path that allows this effect to be created
Wow I never thought that such a high-quality video on the ILL would ever be made especially from someone who is not really part of the community. Anyway thank you for making it and gl with future projects :)
Really cool video! I appreciate the time spent to really dissect these levels, as a creator in the ILL community myself. I think it would be pretty cool if you can share some thoughts on some more impossible levels such as Sailent Clubstar, Six Paths of Pain, or End of Time, though it’s ok if it’s not as long as this video.
Hi Norki, if you even remember me, I finally got the time to watch the video just now. As I expected you really did an amazing job at portraying the beauty of a part of the community, and you definitely grew a new appreciation for tons of people who follow your content, including myself. It's great to see someone so imaginatively and filled to the brim with passion talk about abstract art in geometry dash, especially with overlooked pieces like impossible levels. You really did an amazing job and if you wish to pursue more youtube analysis content, you have one extra fella cheering you on to see you succeed and to keep your confidence up ^^ Two small things I noticed you might've wanted to know: Formosa is the Dutch name for Taiwan, as they were the first Europeans to make contact with the locals there, and the map of Taiwan is shown at the end screen of Formosa. Perhaps all the creative work for the level was made in cohesion with their desire to celebrate their homeland and portray it's diversity. The offset dual gimmick used in tax evasion was first discovered in 2.0 with a much slower method that was only used for challenges and bug showcase levels. The fast actually usable version of the bug was discovered by Rysel in a very awesome layout by him and Willy, Moakh (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JTHKIy1D6AM.html). Rysel also utilized this bug in the best way I've ever seen with his other popular solo layout, Flashback (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AHDLf0eDAvY.html). To go on from this, just like the impossible levels community, the gameplay community is also a very overshadowed part of gd because the levels don't get rewarded directly in game, and some layouts are absolutely incredible with their executions, creative work, and visions put into them. I can show you all about it if you want ^^
omgg i never saw this hahaha yues i remember you!! thank u for the awesome comment :D also feel free to tell me abt gp community stuf fif u are still interested i can give u my disc :)
ooh its been a hot minute and im not too much into the gd community anymore but sure you can add me there are things i can still chat about, just not right now since im in the middle of my finals ^^' name 's bongoh there, same as here :)
49:32 Bro called the silhouette of Taiwan a "white blob" 😭 The endscreen is obviously just purely representative of the name of the level, nothing else
It's also a subtle reference to the Taiwanese army flag (which uses the same format but instead of Silhouette it uses the kmt emblem in the middle) but yeah mostly a reference of the island Silhouette
After watching this video, my eyes were opened by your analysis, I really ignored every top 10 with the exceptions of singularity and cyclolcyc in their decoration and atmosphere aspect. This is great, because impossible levels have been slightly under everyone’s radar until now, despite their great quality. I don’t think the creators of wistfully were expecting someone to pick apart every element to discover hidden lore at all. Eightos would likely be able to win the GD awards for effects if he made possible levels and was more well known. Good luck on your musical career, youtube career and college. You are likely the most human youtuber I have seen Fun fact: this comment originally was 3 lines long, and I have been increasing the length over the hour
Fantastic video! And I finally got introduced to the weird world of impossible levels. I found these levels a lot more interesting than I thought I would. I enjoyed Cyberphobia, Arcturus (for some reason), and Tax Evasion. I can't even describe how much I loved Tax Evasion. I didn't enjoy Cyclolcyc as much as you, but I do remember that I loved the atmosphere of the level. I was honestly surprised at the quality of these levels.
yayyyy!!!! it makes me so happy to hear people seeing the awesomeness in these levels ^^ and i’m actually glad you have your own opinions versus just regurgitating mine!! it shows you actually found your own love for the levels in the video and that means a ton to me and makes the vid worth it 🥰 thank you for the comment :)
THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!!!!! THATS WHY HES THE GOAT!!! I was so worried that the channel was dead and when you would upload next but it appears you have picked up right where you left off, another certified banger right here
This was honestly amazing. I had almost forgotten how good videos you make. After watching this video, CYCLOLCYC is definitely also one of my favorite levels ever.
Thank you for returning Nork. Your content is really relaxing and high quality and it’s great to view. Definitely my favorite GD content creator, and I hope you’ll be happy making videos again :)
yo your videos are artistic as fuck and i love the almost poetic way you describe the levels. insanely high quality, great work. I'm sure if you added a join button to the channel you'd make bank - and rightfully so
You can tell that Arcturus works so much better as an impossible level because the moment it was verified at a top demon it was crapped on by players all around the world 😅
*(Long comment!!)* It took me 4 eating sessions but I've finally watched the entire video! And what an amazing experience it was.. Definitely worth the wait :) I wanna gonna over this video in a bit more detail , review it and even share my own thoughts/opinions on it .. First of , I've always been a fan of impossible levels since it's rise in popularity , it's so intimidating and as you've mentioned - One of a kind viewing experience. I'm glad you decided on this topic and did it justice. The only other high-effort video I've seen on this video is the one by efext and both of you share similar opinions. Although I'm sad you only covered 10 levels which brings me to my first criticism - I was hoping you could add some honourable mentions for levels that weren't in the top 10 but you still thought were cool . For me , it would be levels like Blood in the water /Rain , Ton 618 , Rare , The national anthem, Suffer , etc (these are some i could think of ) . Second and only other "criticism" is that I don't agree with you on cyberphobia but I definitely see your point of view . For me , The eschaton captures the intensity of the song already with near perfection(u should re-watch it if you wanna experience it again). The positives: I was incredibly impressed by the effort in this video and depth of research and interpretation of each level . You have changed my view on 6 whole levels !!- Shipping(6/10), Cyclolcyc (now my 2nd fav) , Wistfully(6/10), Formosa(8/10) , Unnerfed Arcturus (7/10), Tax evasion(7/10) [ BALLISTIC WISTFULLY IS STILL MY FAVOURITE THO] Good stuff honestly. Singularity , BW are still goated Joke Resubmission is a joke , Cyberphobia is still mid I loved hearing your thoughts and interpretation for the entirety of the video's length which is very impressive - keeping viewers engaged. Also the classic norbork "though" ; funny to catch it. This is definitely one of your best videos♥️. In future , maybe you could cover your top 5/10 favourite levels of all time (Again i would love to like hearing your thoughts on it or you could just comment it below if you don't want to make a video ) Hope this video gets pushed into the algorithm a ton , Amazing video norbork!
As someone who would be an active member of the ILL community if I wasn't banned, thank you for making this amazing video about the hardest impossible levels list
I feel impossible levels are some of the most impressive because with extreme demons they go for humanly possible, with impossible levels they go all out with the difficulty
really cool vid! would like to see a video or two on some setups used in ppll/tpll levels. (they may not look that good, but the setups are really interesting and I´d like to see reviews or explanations)
very good video! just a little disappoined you didnt include the best impossible level, schafs II 😢 just out of curiosity, have u seen rain? it got recently re-added in #7
