(Note: Unlike last time where I made several posts. I'll just make one post and edit them as I complete the dungeons)
Naru - "Inactive" (Didn't Finish...)
- I love this dungeon! Or so I loved it at first, before the dungeon started throwing a lot of bullshit at you. It's not so often you see a classic style dungeon executed so wonderfully like you did with the first half of this dungeon. The design was great! I'm a big fan of traps if they are done fairly, and I really like how the overall feel just feels right. This dungeon does include some of the typical "classic bullshit" I don't like, like unmarked push blocks. But since this dungeon is a Classic thing, and not your thing, it is my belief that unmarked push blocks is the norm and people should often be checking in general. It should be the expectation in this type of dungeon, so I'll won't hold that one against you. But this is where the positive things I say end here and things really start taking a really big fall. The boomerang room was bullshit if you ask me! I like a challenge, but that room was just plain bullshit. The worst happens when you're expected to dodge obstacles such as traps and spikes while dodging fireballs of two high RNG fire shooters that you essentially got to hug past (due to cramped walking space) and hope they don't fire at you. You kinda gotta just wing it here. Add this with the fact that you make players go through the same rooms full of enemies over and over again, and it really takes the enjoyment out of what could be potentially be the best dungeon of this month. I ended up giving up when I was trapped in a room with a bunch of golden enemies that I couldn't hurt with my weapons. I assume that you needed bombs for them, but I already used them on the blue Goriyas. There is no reason you should have expected players to keep their bombs for this room or else (Deal with it and F6). Ah man, I'm so disappointed because this dungeon started out so well.
Astromeow - FunShine DX: Norfair (Didn't Finish...)
I remember playing demos of this quest once before, and I wasn't impressed with your use of sideview at all. There was a lot of things you did that just didn't feel right. Also, things didn't feel that fair. With that said, I feel that your design has slightly improved. I still really don't like your use of having the jump button fill one of your main command slots. There are still some instances of poor design when it comes to using side view screens. You gotta really understand that Zelda Classic is not a free scroller, but instead a thing that transitions between screens more like Mega Man than it does Metroid. This is something that's very important to consider when designing in side screens. You really gotta take heed how jumping up and down screens really feels in your design when you're working on side view screens. I prefer ladders when ascending and descending because hell, they work well with Mega Man and they also work very well with Zelda Classic side view. There is one instance in this demo I kept jumping and hitting an unseen ceiling from the screen above me. I eventually reached a path full of spiky enemies, Wizzrobes, and Darknuts, and I was done there. Just bad execution and misguided understanding of how these enemies work in side view screens.
IntimFuchtler - Hollow Garden (Didn't Finish...)
Lets forget the fact that I almost blew myself up at the very moment I started playing. I was caught off guard by the fast scrolling, but I really like it to be honest. Though it felt a bit uncomfortable at first, I wish more quests use it. Lots of time is wasted from the very slow scrolling ZC offers.
Man, I sometimes wonder if people are designing their quests around the "Kill every enemy but one" exploit. I find the screens are literally littered with enemies here, and it's a problem when you're only given stab. It's like this dungeon expects you to exploit that gimmick, or I'm just playing badly. I also found myself having to leave the screen and return to manipulate enemy spawns as well in some of those areas where enemies are firing projectiles in tight spaces. This dungeon is overall quite punishing for a Level 1. Unless this is intended to be a challenge quest, I'd suggest toning down the difficulty a bit. Once I got over the difficult and got used to exploiting the enemies a bit better, I found this dungeon rather great. Man, oh man. That poison snake went from easy to WTF in seconds. lol
Really though, this level isn't so difficult once you exploit the "kill all but one gimmick" but quite hellish if you don't. I certainly suggest toning down the enemy spam. Difficulty aside, must like the first entry for "changing my mind", I had a bad first impression here, but I was quite delighted once I kept going. I believe this dungeon has very great design and could potentially be my favorite entry here so far. I still have two more dungeons to play though. I made it as far as the boss before giving up for the night. It's getting late, and I'll finish the boss some time tomorrow.
I just gave another attempt on the boss, and I just got no patience for it. Both bosses in this dungeon have a very big issue with being too drawn out and difficult. I don't mind bosses with multiple phases, but the phases are exactly what's wrong with your bosses. The length is the biggest issue here. It gives off that same feeling of having to travel a bunch of rooms before you reach the boss. Except in this case the boss will kinda take it easy on you for around 5 or so minutes of battling before the actual battle actually starts. It's boring and annoying, especially when you mess up trying to reach it's final phase. I've only even got to see the final phase once, and I just got turned off by this boss' design.
Astromeow - FunShine DX: Norfair Catacombs (Didn't Finish...)
Ugh... Despite criticism I made from previous demos I've played in this quest ages ago. I can see here that they were ignored. Nothing has improved from the very core issues I see usually repeating in this quest. This demo reflects the very problems with everything I've seen in this quest ever since you first revealed it. I didn't enjoy this demo at all. Between the lava with stupid hitboxes, bomb throwing enemies you cannot avoid, and the Aquamentus enemies, and no apparent save point in a reasonable proximity. I'm just done with this quest, I'll refrain from playing anymore demos of FunShine in the future.
Joelmacool - Aqua Expoots (Completed)
The only demo this month I actually completed. lol
This demo is the safest of the bunch if you ask me. You can clearly tell it tried to be good but it didn't take those risks to be anything great or memorable. Thus this fails to be the most enjoyable of the list. Hollow Garden and Inactive were both much more enjoyable because of this. However, because this dungeon is the safest one that attempted to get everything right, I voted it for being the best overall designed. This was a tough choice between this demo and Hollow Garden for best design. But Hollow Garden tries too hard to be difficult and seemed shake the boat in a very bad way that left a bad taste. The design here is safe and solid, but not very memorable.
Who had the best over-all designed dungeon? - Joelmacool
Who's dungeon did you enjoy playing the most? - IntimFuchtler
Who had the most interesting gimmick, or puzzles? - IntimFuchtler
Who made the best use of their tileset? - Joelmacool
Edited by NewJourneysFire, 25 May 2016 - 11:43 AM.
lol
