The End Of An Era | Congregation by Presta

I still don't feel prepared to write this, but here goes nothing.

This is the longest history I have had with a Geometry Dash level, I started this in December of 2021, aiming for this to be my 11th extreme and hardest as a jump from Black Blizzard. At first, things went well, but then reality set in. After fluking to 31%, progress became gradual, and VERY slow, I was only playing once every week and it was eating at me, and worse yet, some sessions wouldn't even get to the 30% range despite giving it my all. It was a horrible idea to jump to this, so I gave it a rest.

It was always on the back of my mind, I didn't know when I'd be ready, and no urge to play it came up, this however, changed when a friend of mine brought up that 2.2 had made the level easier according to some players, which peaked my curiosity. So for the first time in 2 years, I played the level with serious intent, and lo and behold, I get my 3rd ever 42% - 100% run only an hour and a half after returning. At this point I had beaten 30 more extremes, 2 being new hardests since I last played, I was a lot more skilled. A week after this first session back, I returned on stream to get my first ever drop attempt which was pretty surreal, the next stream I somehow passed 50% which... In honesty scared me a little, I passed the hardest drop chokepoint first try, considering getting drop attempts was a new thing to me and my nerve control was absolutely horrible with it at that point, when would I get another run that passes that point? I failed to mention this in the vid, but I put it on hold again after Feb 13th. With my first university semester starting, I didn't want to put too much on my plate, so I instead opted to play Eon as it was slower paced, but I then built up a backlogue of levels I've been holding off on finishing that would lead up to Congregation as my 45th extreme, those being Ddiamond, Dump, and Belloq. As promised, I returned to this level shortly after Belloq, and in just 10 days of starting the level back up, I managed to beat it.

Now that you know the basic story of my time with it, let me cover my experience. I built up this level in my head significantly, much like when I did Cataclysm as a first extreme, I remembered how it was an old impossible level and that was how I viewed it. Congregation wasn't much different. I remembered it being a cold, unforgiving wall that would need complete perfection to pass. For context, before picking it back up, I had 50,986 attempts and not one drop attempt, so I set my expectations low for my progress upon returning to it. On the day before the completion, I got an astounding 12 drop attempts which furthered my mental significantly, I went from having a heartrate of 145 at the drop to around 120-130 range, as well as being able to focus much better, especially when passing 48%. As stated in the video, on the day that I beat it, I was still holding the mentality that this AT MINIMUM would take another month with how nervous the ending would make me, but alas, I fluked it, and strangely enough, my dad accidentally assisted me. The best explanation I have for the ending is that him entering the room forced me to divert attention to him to tell him to not enter for the moment, which somehow gave room for me to really focus in on the ending, and at that point I realised that it was unlikely I was going to die with how focused I was, I felt like I was in a run from the start of the last cube, but knew I was from 0%. Overall this not only has the most strung out story with a level, but my strangest extreme completion that I have done. I'm so happy to have this off my shoulders after almost a 3 year journey, I never thought I would complete this honestly, but god am I proud that I have finally done it.

Finally, would I recommend this? Yes, but do be aware that the predop will hold you hostage for as long as it pleases and you cannot force it not to, you must grow with it. And make sure to be ready for how nervous this level will make you feel, getting to the drop for the first time felt like I was holding the weight of the world on my shoulders and I had to hold it steadily. It does get easier with time, but you need to be aware that it will take awhile.

I can't believe it's over. Thank you all for believing in me. ❤️

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Level Info:
• Current Placement on Demon List (as of upload date): #101
• Record Before Completion: 65% x2
• Attempts: 62,632
• Level Enjoyment: 96/100
• Runs: 22% - 100%, 31% - 100%, 42% - 100% x7
• Raw Footage:    • Final Congregation Stream! | 18/07/2024  

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My Socials:
• Twitch:   / floofiwan  
• Twitter:   / floofiwan  
• Discord Server:   / discord  

• Thumbnail by Mark Napkin:   / mark_napkin  

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My Completed Extremes:
• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...