For those unfamiliar with the quest, it is basically just one huge tower with ten floors, each floor a separate dungeon with its own theme, gimmick, and items. There are also a few secret dungeons, but those are for you to find.
I would like to start off by saying that there are admittedly a few things that certain people may not like about this quest. If these things will bug you too much, and the justifications still do not satisfy you, I would love it if you would still try it out, but that is completely up to you.
1) This quest uses the classic set.
I love the classic set, and I find it very easy to work with. If I were using a different set, chances are this quest would take much, much more time to complete, and the design as well as other aspects might suffer. That being said, there are tons upon tons of custom/ripped graphics from my mind and other Zelda games. I see no reason why this complaint should stop you from playing.
2) No overworld.
Well, yeah. That's kind of the point. If you think that you'll be missing out on a lot of exploration, though, the dungeons are usually pretty exportable, especially the secret dungeons. It's not like I can throw an overworld in the middle of a tower, now can I? *hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink*
3) Where is the sword?
Level 6. Sorry. This quest was built strongly around certain unique uses of items. Just because you don't have the sword right away doesn't instantly make the quest really difficult. The items you get are quite sufficient for the tasks you must complete, plus it makes you see certain items in a new light; using them in ways you wouldn't bother doing if you had the sword. You get the arrows on the first floor, which are a) two times stronger than the first sword, and b) long range 100% of the time. You have 999 rupees to start off, so there shouldn't be any problems with fighting. Through this, I'm trying to give some items more of what they deserve. Trust, me; once you start playing, you don't even think about not having the sword, and when you get it, you realize that you were pretty much Ok without it. Besides, the sword you get is level three.
4) No story.
The “story” of this quest is one that is a mystery to the player until he or she reaches the goal set before them. There IS a story in this quest besides to get to the top. It evolves very, very slowly, until you reach a certain point in the tower when you will suddenly be immersed in a story that somehow seemed nonexistent until that point. If you want to find out what that is, you’ll have to play it.
5) Uh, the first few floors suck.
Firstly, this is a matter of opinion. Secondly, another unique part of this quest is the “evolution” of the game itself. Every floor, something new (and better) is introduced. The graphics slowly go from totally classic to almost 50% custom/ripped in a classic environment. There are always new puzzles, and old ones are elaborated. Gimmicks get more advanced. Difficulty increases. As said above, a story slowly starts to emerge. If you don’t like the first few floors, then you can only look forward to better ones as you climb.
6) This is too hard.
-Enemies/bosses/traps
Five things: 1) If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Really, just learn from your mistakes and try to do better the next time. 2) As stated above, items may be more useful than you think sometimes. Try something you might not normally do. 3) Enemy combinations are frequently set up in ways that may have certain ways to go about beating them. 4) I tried very, very hard to tone down the enemies in this quest. If you’ve played Death’s Power, this is nothing. The difficulty damage wise comes more from the rooms themselves rather than from the enemies. 5) The secret dungeons have some good aid if you can find and complete them.
-Puzzles
Since this is one of the main focuses of this quest, the puzzles (room or global) may be difficult. Don’t forget to search everywhere and try everything, and if you’re really stuck, it’s never a problem to ask.
After all that, I think I said more good than bad, so maybe this is actually a good quest after all. Seriously though, all quests have their strengths and weaknesses, and if you’re going to enjoy it, you have to deal with the weaknesses and embrace the strengths. Being the one who is building it, I probably have a bit of a bias, but I think this is a very enjoyable quest.
Now for some screenshots!
Tower
Floor 6
Raft Problems
Notice the somewhat custom tiles
Anyone recognize this puzzle?
Block puzzle
Custom mini-boss
They dislike smoke
Use the hookshot
Floor 7
Low
Medium
High
Can't quite reach the chest
Pillar crossing
Again with the block puzzles
What to do?
Important switch
Custom gate
Floor 8
Floor 9!
Screenshots:
Features:
-A fully functioning day/night system
-Many short trading sequences and one long bonus trading sequence
-A full 8x8 over world accompanied by an 8x8 cellar underneath it
-8 mandatory mini-dungeons, each with their own interesting gimmicks
-2 secret dungeons, also with awesome gimmicks
-A few other areas that aren’t dungeons, over world, or the cellar such a castle and its prison
-A couple custom bosses/mini-bosses tucked in here and there
-2 mini games, one of which being very unique
-The blossoming of the story behind this quest and the tower
Floor 10!
Other
Troublesome waters
That thing can change direction
Foresty
Two switches
Cave area
More hookshot
For more pictures, and some slightly outdated info, go here.
For videos of this quest, go here.
Expect 10-15 hours of solid gameplay from the start of the quest to the end of floor 10.
This quest is made for 2.10, so use that unless you absolutely cannot.
Here is the latest version!
Download!
Status of Current Version
Floors: 10
Custom bosses: 6
Secret Levels: 5
-Floor 1 boss is now easier.
-Floor 5 boss is now easier.
-A few graphical errors fixed (thanks goes to Zenith for pointing them out!)
-Removed bomb damage to avoid some damage warping
If you finished floor 9, now that I've update with floor 10, you can start from there with your current stats. In order to do this, just replace the old file with the new file in the same folder is was in before, without renaming it. Once the quest is finished, you will be able to finish. I will not change anything major from what has already been made, only fixing bugs that are found and other possible small tweaks.
So, if you want to play it, go right ahead! If you want to test it, thank you very, very much. I need testers, and as many people can test as you want, so test away! Feel free to leave any comments, questions, problems, bugs, suggestions, hypotheses, or whatever else relating to the quest. It will be appreciated.
Edited by TheOnlyOne, 29 July 2011 - 09:50 AM.
