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Eiyuu

Rating: 4.79/5 (26 ratings)

Reviews

DarkDragon  
Rating: 4/5

Edited 28 December 2016 - 02:50 AM
I don't have time to play a lot of custom quests, but I wanted to get a taste for what quest authors are doing with 2.50 features, and chose this one. I apologize for the formatting of this review: I keep trying to put in newlines but the forum software keeps stripping them out.
This review will have spoilers, by the way. Read at your own risk.
Let's start with the overall feel of the gameplay. Eiyuu is much more the "thinking man's" quest than a lot of what I've seen in the database: there are very few truly difficult fights or dungeons, and many many puzzles, and much of the enjoyment I got out of playing Eiyuu was in probing its mysteries in the overworld, and staring at a dungeon screen thinking, "how the *hell* am I supposed to toggle that switch *four* times?" The quest reminds of La Mulana or Antichamber in terms of its overall style, and this is a great change of pace from most of what I've played before. A lot of the puzzles here felt fresh and innovative, and the heavy use of custom items really helps in that regard. The green wand (I forget the name) is particularly noteworthy and I thought its potential was well-explored, as it stayed relevant across multiple different types of puzzles in different dungeons of the game. I particularly liked how it added a new (and fiendish) twist on pushblock puzzles, despite these puzzles having been around since the NES days and overused in custom quests for years.
The difficulty of the puzzles felt about right. I think the middle dungeons in particular were very well balanced: I greatly enjoyed both Sanskrit Temple and the Slidge. Brace Dest is more of a mixed bag: the top floor is solid, but the bottom floors (that you explore in the beginning of the quest) could use more polish; at the moment the dungeons lacks coherence and feels like a hodge-podge of mild puzzles and classic LttP-style gameplay, as opposed to the focused themes of the later dungeons.
Soltis is (dare I say it?) too easy. I was expecting the "hint coin" puzzle to involve setting up infinite magic loops, racing around the room in my boots to push mirrors before the magic arrives, etc. but it turned out to be very straightforward. The toggle block puzzles felt more mean than difficult here (as opposed to in Sanskrit Temple, where they were used to great effect). The order of the color puzzles on the top feels wrong: the color path puzzle should have come first, since it introduces the theme of colors equivalent to directions in a straightforward way, before the Lost Woods color puzzle adds several elaborations on the theme.
The final four-room dungeon is excellent; it's a pity it's so short. I think the third room is also broken, since it is much easier than I think the author intended. The second room is brilliant, and probably my favorite room in the entire game.
Instead of a linear sequence of dungeons, Eiyuu involves a lot of backtracking to earlier dungeons, which I think is a great feature and adds depth to the gameplay. Every room is a mystery: am I supposed to be able to beat this room yet? Am I supposed to come back later in the dungeon? Later in the game?
And of course, there are big secrets in early dungeons that you can only get to after you have very late-game items. I think this is a fine idea, but the execution was a bit weak: instead of just 2-3 places where you can come back and pick up new items, I wish there had been far more rooms, in far more dungeons, where you can profit from coming back later with new knowledge and equipment. (For example I very much expected to find color puzzles all over the place after beating Soltis, but this doesn't seem to be the case; the one place with obvious colors, the basement of the museum, is a red herring as far as I can tell.)
The story is well above-average for a custom quest, and though some of the major plot points didn't surprise me ("curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!") there was enough meat on the story to keep me interested in exploring the world and learning more from the NPCs. I think there is plenty of room for improvement, though: first, for all of the awe that the Mask of Truth inspires, it was never clear to me what it actually *does.* It would help if there were gameplay applications to the mask (act as a lens of truth, perhaps?) that conveyed through gameplay its important to the game world. The later items also felt bland and disconnected from the story (Champion's Medal? True Champion's Medal? Why do I want these, other than just because They're There?) and the many inside jokes/references distracted from the play experience rather than adding anything, in my opinion.
And finally, my major complaint about the quest: it commits the cardinal sin of ZC custom quests, "guess the combo." One of the critical aspects of a well-designed puzzler is internal consistency, and Eiyuu *almost* pulls this off: almost every room where the wand does something has a star, and almost every room with the sacrifice blood scroll has a blood drop, etc... but sadly that's "almost," not every. There is no satisfaction to hiding a secret behind an unexpected combo. Either you run into it accidentally (oh, I randomly used the Blood Scroll and found a shop... weird) or you never find it, and neither of those give the player the satisfaction of the "a-ha" moment where they solve a puzzle and unlock a secret legitimately. Other examples that I consider unfair and unfun: the barrel that randomly reacts to your medal, and the soul game house that randomly turns into a dungeon (I still have no idea why it happened: I wandered onto the screen one time, and there it was.) There also should have been some environmental clue in the areas where you can walk through walls (Soltis does this quite well, despite being the one place where I had to ask the forums for help).
Having an NPC in a dungeon somewhere give a cryptic hint does not excuse this cardinal sin, by the way. Internal consistency is king.
 

Overall, this quest is excellent, and deserving of its place on the front page of Greatest Hits. Although I've picked apart the flaws in my review, this is to help the quest author grow with honest feedback, rather than to discourage you from playing the game. If you like difficult puzzles, a unique atmosphere, decent story, and many new and interesting scripted items, this quest has my highest possible recommendation. I don't think there is any quest in the database that packs as much entertainment in as few map screens.
  • Deedee , Avaro and bigboylink like this
 

Zagut  
Rating: 5/5

Posted 27 December 2016 - 07:32 PM
I played this quest through about, like, 5 times? It never gets old for me. Amazing Puzzles, Amazing Overworld, Amazing Dungeons, Everything is amazing.
Only thing I don't like about this quest, is the length of the dungeons. They are a bit too short, but the quality of them by far make up for it.
To sum it up in 1 word: Outstanding.
 

SomeZeldaFan  
Rating: 4/5

Posted 18 June 2016 - 11:34 PM
This quest isn't bad, but was annoying.
 

Norzan  
Rating: 5/5

Posted 29 November 2015 - 06:29 PM
This is the most unique quest i've played so far and it was pretty refreshing. The overworld has a pretty solid design with a bunch of hidden secrets, the dungeons were very enjoyable to go through, the karma system, while not as deep as some other games that have it, adds replay value which i love in video games, the story and characters were pretty solid and the music selection was pretty good.

Can't honestly find anything that annoyed me to the point of frustration and it was a very enjoyable experience. Definitely looking forward to the sequel.
  • Zagut and Avaro like this
 

TheRock  
Rating: 5/5

Posted 01 August 2015 - 02:53 PM
I finally got around to beating this thing, I have to say this has so many cool, new, and unique items. All of the dungeons are amazing with some very cool puzzles. I really like how almost every room in the dungeons a meaning. These dungeons, despite there size, they are very complex, which I like a lot. My favorite level was ether Sanskirt Basement or Truth. Overall my only problem with this is the difficulty. This is the only reason I don't beat it till now. The reason I was able to beat this is because I gave myself the gold ring at the start of the game with a glitch I discovered that works with every quest.
 

Naru  
Rating: 5/5

Edited 08 February 2016 - 03:26 PM
[edit] Finally reworking my review (was pretty much just stating nonsense and the obvious).

There is a lot new, unique and original content: 5/5.

Things that are a bit of a let-down are the tileset and the karma system. The Tileset is used very well, but shows typical zelda-stuff. This is not a Zelda game and this irritates me a lot, especially as your charakter uses a Link sprite, a own tileset would have helped a lot to create a even more unique feeling. Also the Karma-System is a great Idea, but not too well executed yet. If you do "evil" things, most of that does feels not really that evil and you rarely have the chance to do so, most often it is rather a missed opportunity to help someone but at times (not going to the right spot) you do not even know someone needs help. Once you fight someone turned evil and I tried everything to bring the story further without killing him (to be good) but it seems not possible. To sum it up a system of missed opportunities and choices influencing the play through is great, but there is not really enough to call it a Karma-System I think.
 

Deedee  
Rating: 5/5

Edited 08 November 2016 - 04:47 PM
5 stars.
  • Zagut likes this
 

Demonlink  
Rating: 5/5

Posted 05 January 2015 - 12:13 AM
I love the gameplay of this quest. It's one of the few that actually executes fairly well the actions that you choose to make. The experimental karma system works as expected. The story is full of twists and OMG! moments. But the best of this are its variety of puzzles it offers (especially that last Mega Tier secret, what a pain!). I think you've surprised everybody with this Teamudf. I wish you the best of luck with Lost Lineage! :)
  • Teamudf likes this
 

ScorpioGK  
Rating: 5/5

Edited 02 December 2014 - 08:54 AM
Now this is my first opinion on this and I will definitely do another review on this after I complete it. So based off of what it looks like and what I can understand from the preview, it appears to be a well made quest that is gonna be a good experience overall. Of course I am a huge fan of Teamudf's videos so I may be slightly biased, but I still think that it is a good looking quest. Now to play it.


Well I started the game and it was good but I ran into some problems on my end so I won't be making this into a full review and it should be treated as only a review of the very beginning. And I NEED to state that there might be minor spoilerish things in this so you are warned.(I seriously doubt it though) Other than that sorry for misspellings.


[Bugs]

1.) There a bug where I would go up or down the stairs and spawn facing them and I would be walking forward into them. (This tiny bug only caused minor

inconvenience and nothing serious)


[Levels]

The Dream? Area 1.) Upon first starting the game and going through a cut-scene the game puts you into a challenging but well designed area where you have

only one heart but you won't die. When you do die you will be taken back to where you started in the area. This area will be hard for some people who are

new at the game and some for those who are experienced. From what I saw at the time though the area has a lot more to it so I will comment on those parts

as they come.

Brace Dest 1.) As I entered the area I noticed the well done graphics for this level. There Is a little bit of annoyance so far as I got to a part where I wen't

down a set of stairs and was attacked by two ropes and was pushed back up the stairs. This happened several times but it can be managed if you move either

up or down as soon as you spawn in. This area is very hard at least for me and it might be for you as well.


[Overworld]

Myso Moutain 1.) After you finish the first part of the level mentioned as number one of the level section you will be able to roam around the large area of

Myso Moutain and while you don't have much ate your disposal tool wise, you can still uncover quite a few secrets here. I do recommend going around and

trying to clear each screen of monsters because there is always the possibility of a secret and it can make your exploration much easier because it seems to

me that the enemies don't respawn often. While you are exploring you can come across Plergoth which is a village, Doego Dojo, The Game House and

several other places. I do recommend saving your rupees to buy the blue candle when you can afford it.

Plergoth 1.) This is the first village that I have come across so far. One of the notable places that I have seen here is the museum where you can see some

of the rare items and artifacts as well as find out some interesting things by talking to the people. So far though I haven't found much here. From here you

can find the Saito Dojo where you do have the chance to STEAL the flippers. You can also here some more of the story and there should be other things to

do here later as well.

Winterfall Path 1.) If you go into Plergoth then head north you will get another cut-scene and then you will be given access to Winterfall Path. From here

you can head NORTH to Sanskrit Temple and EAST to Brace Dest Sanctuary. There is a lot to do here and a few secrets that I can do but most of it I

would need a lot more items to do.


[Gameplay]

1.) There is a large challenge when dealing with the enemies particularly at the start when all you have is the wand and you can only get one bomb at a time

so you will have to be careful or else you will be seeing the GAME OVER screen a lot.(Like me)

2.) So far from what I have seen the gameplay is more or less focused around the challenge of adventure and exploration as well as thinking what you do

through because at least for where I am, money is limited because enemies don't drop rupees and you can't cut grass or bushes.

3.) There is a KARMA system that can change certain things that happen in the story apparently. You can decrease your KARMA by stealing items but I

don't know about increasing it.

[Enemies]

1.) Most of the enemies that I have fought against have been your average baddies with a few exceptions such as a few of the moblins will shoot three arrows

instead of one or the other ones that will throw bombs at you.

2.) The tektites are a special kind of frustrating. You will know if you play this.

3.) There are also another form of octerock that I have found that will spit fire in a cone shape from it's mouth.

4.) Although the fire octerock is a hassle, the bomb spiting version is even harder. This version will spray a large stream of bombs at you.

5.) There is this clam shell thing that I found in Brace Dest that shoots bombs and infuriates me to no end. (Seriously how much does this thing hate me!)(I

almost just broke my computer)(It gave me a bomb bag though so I guess we're even.)


[Sound]

1.) This game sounds amazing. That's all. Amazing. My favorite is the music that you hear when you start the area after the first cut-scene.


[Story]

Now I will try to not spoil much in this part. From what I gather YOU play as Zelos Pheniox as you search for The Mask of Truth. To be honest when

writing his part I have only just started but this will probably be all that is in here because I don't want to spoil much. Hopefully this will be good for you.


[Overall]

This overall will be out of TEN for every category that I wrote about.

Levels: 9
Overworld: 10
Gameplay: 9
Enemies: 8
Sound: 8
Story: 8

OVERALL: 9


[Reasons]

Well here is a big one the game it self is great and from what I saw it deserves this rating, but I won't be finishing this review probably. I made a huge

mistake and didn't do any save states so I have to start over. I don't want to. I had put almost 3 hours of writing this review and exploring the game just to have

this happen*. Overall this seems to be a very good game you should play this. JUST REMEMBER TO SAVE!!!


* I just want to say that I will finish this sometime and I don't know how long I was actually at it but it felt long thus the 3 hours.
 

Soma C.  
Rating: 5/5

Posted 18 November 2014 - 09:23 PM
After finally finishing this gem the other day I am glad to finally put down a well-deserved 5-star review!
I won't go too in-depth, but i just want to say that I was mightily impressed with basically every facet of this quest, from the intriguing DoR tileset (at least I think that's the tileset), engrossing story, experimental karma system (which I stuck to the good end of, and very happy for), engaging characters/dialogue (the Duke's in particular was well thought-out IMO)....the cryptic messages and hints scattered about, the vibrant music, which fit every area spectacularly (Soltis in particular sticks out to me, and I loved it so much I searched for the song here on purezc ("Combat Chamber 5" if anyone is interested), downloaded it, and listen to it every day pretty much, and of course....the secrets. Oh, the secrets.
This may have been Teamudf's first submitted quest, and while it's short, it's encompassing to the point where there is no set level order (nor do I believe there is meant to be, at least here), and that enhances the overall exploration attribute immensely. There is so much packed into this quest that you can search for days, find something, come back to it a few weeks or whatever later, and find something else, because you tried something different that you didn't do before.
Of course the pinnacle of all is the mega-tier secrets, the ones you REALLY have to look for to find.
You'll see a mysterious big key on a beach after level 2-ish....how to get said key, you might wonder? It will bug you literally ALL game, and that actually is the final part of the biggest secret the game has to offer, and that, by itself, makes the quest all that much more worth playing....the "how do I get that?" aspect. Admittedly, a couple of the later secrets are somewhat...obscure, to put it bluntly. But as already stated, if you explore enough and gather all clues together, look REALLY close at EVERY screen, you will find them all, including all of the hidden inside jokes (coughfeathercough) and little funny things hidden about.
Another thing that may bother you all game is a certain barrel....but that's another *secret*
All in all, TeamUDF has put together a shining example of what an excellent ZC quest aspires to be, and while I may be giving this game a LOT of credit, I think it deserves it, as well as a spot in my top 3 favorite quests! If this is the first game in a series, I look forward all the more to Lost Lineage, my friend!
Amazing job!