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[jerome]

Review of Link in Holberina by theZCking
Reviewed by: jerome

I really don't know where to being on this review. I don't want to be too over-critical of someone's first quest as I don't want to discourage anyone from this great program we all enjoy (that and the author is rather young and might take what I say to be too harsh). So whatever I say here, try to find the good/constructive-criticism in it if you read this theZCking. So with that being said...

The quest is done in the EZGB tileset (sorry if not abbreviated correctly, but I'm sure you get it). The overworld isn't very big, so there's not much room to explore. If you can't find the next level, chances are it'll be there in 2-3 screens, max.

The quest itself is vastly empty in terms of dungeons. More than half of the rooms in each are empty. Yes, empty. No enemies, puzzles, or things to avoid. And you pretty much have the exact same dungeon in every level. So once you get down the pattern of the first one, you've pretty much solved all the others and just need to go through them all. Level 1 has a movement difficulty that would've been better off as a later dungeon because of the the hookshot rooms with the damage tiles. It's very difficult to manuver on a single tile and change directions. Possible? Yes, but still better as a later dungeon type of thing. This is especially since a lot of the later dungeons don't even have an "avoid this" type of room as much.

The overworld follows the emptiness as well. Some screens only have 2 enemies. Not that that's bad or anything for a screen to only have that many enemies, but it kind of seems to be the max. And then all of a sudden there's a Patra 2 on one screen just firing away. And you will be beating it with a wooden sword if you are impatient and want the goodies NOW! Although, to check the updates, on my second time through I had the level 4 sword and the Patra 2 goes much quicker that way. In case you didn't know already.

Item placement is all over the place. At the very beginning, you can buy the Magic Key for 50 rupees. This is supposed to be upped a bit in another "coming soon" update. As for now, it kind of knocks out some of the searching of the quest. The Magic Shield is just handed to you on your second screen. The same goes for the step-ladder for the next one. Yet you have to pull your hair out, almost, at trying to figure out where the heck the hookshot is so you can beat level 1. Yes, the hookshot is in level 1. I think you get the mirror shield soon after. Once you get the "Harp of Ages" (whistle), you get access to most levels in almost any order you wish to tackle them.

Well as you can imagine from previous mentions of such, the quest difficulty is extremely low. I'd say that Triforce Peril is more difficult in terms of combat. So if you are looking for a quest that won't knock you over in difficulty, this could be your quest. Now in the updated version, at the time of this review, theZCking did add in some more enemies here and there. Placement was a bit odd at times. For example: having to beat a Blue Ghoma to get a key, but the Red Ghoma (level 1) for the triforce.

I do try to find positives in all quests I play for those that think that all I do is complain at them.
Now for some positives I had found:
I was kind of surprised by some of the custom bosses though. Not just because of the age of the author, but because there's a bit to one of them. It was quite a complex creature, it was. I think it was the Vaati boss. There were also some nice looking scenery as the entrance to one of the levels. Someone should let Bob Ross see this "Happy Little Tree". This one is smiling. (Extra points to you if you know who I am talking about. As many extra points that you need to compensate for the extra years you have as well. Hehe.) One of the triforce rooms has a big Goron head there that was pretty cool as well.


Overall I give this quest 1/2point. 1/2-points for the extra graphics, 0-points for design, and 0-point for overall quest play.

Don't get discouraged though, you did rather well with the custom bosses. I think if you work on some of the other stuff like design, gameplay, and expanding/different ideas you could well be on your way to much better quests.



Remember, if you want to discuss the quest, please feel free to do so here. Agree or disagree, it's your opinion. Dont forget to rate the quest! The author will appreciate it. If you need help on the quest, please seek the help thread.

[KenMeister]

I personally found nothing wrong in this quest,especially for a 10 year old.Putting Custom bosses in the first game is a major accomplishment as well.Sure,the grass combos were ugly,but he tested the game,and there were no bugs anywhere.I saw that his next quest will be much better.How do I know this?I am a supporter of his quest,fixing the design in some places,and so far,it looks pretty good.