Reviews
Malstygian
Posted 17 June 2023 - 08:40 AM
Outstanding. Skimming through the reviews, I can see how some could consider the game before level 7 to be bland, but I never got that impression. I have not enjoyed playing through a quest this much since Mike's Funhouse - there's just so much to do. I finished the game with all the items and missing 4 pieces of heart. The only item that I had trouble finding and sought out help for was the cross primarily because the hidden stairway was not where I expected it given the map. I thought that adding bombable walls that transport you between levels was innovative. FYI, this played perfectly in 2.55 if anyone else wants to give it a try today.
klop422
Edited 15 September 2017 - 06:43 PM
Before reading this review, I should say that I did not 100% complete the quest, just beat the final boss and did a few of the secrets. Also, spoilers for some of those follow.
The quest starts out fairly simplistically, much like many other quests - which, in my opinion, is not a bad thing. For the first while (really, until you get the flippers), while not being more than a Zelda 1-esque quest, this is pretty good. Also, it has two rather nice mini-dungeons: the Ice Cavern and the Sewer Dungeon (which is. of course, a 2D version of the Bottom of the Well from Oot). Both of these are pretty fun, though the Patra boss is really hard if you go in the the Sewer as soon as you get the flippers.
However, when you get to Seafarer Island (and just generally when you get the flippers) is when the quest really kicks off. An incredible 8th dungeon (could probably almost be a metroidvania mini-quest in itself) is probably my favourite place in the whole overworld of the game, despite moments of "What the hell am I supposed to do next?". And it somehow manages to pull off having no boss, save for mini-bosses throughout.
Then, the Underworld. While good, this to me had the slight issue of being very large, but not too full. While there are a few things to do here - a sidequest between the two towns (with a fairly cool boss fight), a few mini-dungeons - there is a lot of running between them, and, if you failed to get the Din's Fire, for which rod and magic book (optional items, I think), there are no shortcuts until you beat level 9. This is somewhat mitigated by the number of secrets you can find here, and also how good some the bonus dungeons are (I'll get back to that), but it is still an issue.
Spectacle Rock was another brilliant dungeon. While clearly based on the original Spectacle Rock, it brings its own flavour to the game, especially considering that there is another entrance and everything on the left. There were a couple moments - one in particular where the hammer had to used on a statue multiple times - which got me very much stuck (I confess that for that one I had to look up the solution), but this dungeon, while difficult, was manageable as a 'final' dungeon.
The next dungeon, the Ancient Ruins, was a breather of a dungeon - a good thing, here, after the immense complexity of levels 8 and 9 - until the boss! This is the hardest mandatory boss of the game, and I confess I stopped playing one time when I reached it and couldn't beat it. This boss can be a little frustrating as it likes to teleport you around and make bomb drops disappear when you're about to pick them up, but this is not the quest's fault, as it was made with ZC 2.10, being an otherwise amazing boss fight.
Following this was when I did the three late-game dungeons as led to by the in-game Lightwulf (smooth creator cameo there! Though you put all sorts of PureZC members in too - myself included - so I can't complain
): The Sunken Ship, a wonderful mini-dungeon for the Master Sword; the Desert Ravine, with an insane boss fight (seriously, a Death Knight, two Splitting Darknuts, and two Mirror Wizzrobes in one room? And a Level 2 Manhandla for good measure) for the Gold Ring; and the nice and quite fun Key Maze. These three dungeons save the Underworld from being too affected by the issues I stated before.
Then the final dungeon. While easier, it works as a grand finale to the quest, and has the nicely creative bomb-wall maze. The final battle(s) were decently fun, though due to 2.10's limitations, the Ganon battle was a little bit underwhelming, especially since we didn't get a Big Damn Boss Fight against our good friend Xanthis.
Overall, a really good quest with a few small issues, a couple of which are caused by ZC 2.10's limitations. Hoping you get round to making another one soon!
The quest starts out fairly simplistically, much like many other quests - which, in my opinion, is not a bad thing. For the first while (really, until you get the flippers), while not being more than a Zelda 1-esque quest, this is pretty good. Also, it has two rather nice mini-dungeons: the Ice Cavern and the Sewer Dungeon (which is. of course, a 2D version of the Bottom of the Well from Oot). Both of these are pretty fun, though the Patra boss is really hard if you go in the the Sewer as soon as you get the flippers.
However, when you get to Seafarer Island (and just generally when you get the flippers) is when the quest really kicks off. An incredible 8th dungeon (could probably almost be a metroidvania mini-quest in itself) is probably my favourite place in the whole overworld of the game, despite moments of "What the hell am I supposed to do next?". And it somehow manages to pull off having no boss, save for mini-bosses throughout.
Then, the Underworld. While good, this to me had the slight issue of being very large, but not too full. While there are a few things to do here - a sidequest between the two towns (with a fairly cool boss fight), a few mini-dungeons - there is a lot of running between them, and, if you failed to get the Din's Fire, for which rod and magic book (optional items, I think), there are no shortcuts until you beat level 9. This is somewhat mitigated by the number of secrets you can find here, and also how good some the bonus dungeons are (I'll get back to that), but it is still an issue.
Spectacle Rock was another brilliant dungeon. While clearly based on the original Spectacle Rock, it brings its own flavour to the game, especially considering that there is another entrance and everything on the left. There were a couple moments - one in particular where the hammer had to used on a statue multiple times - which got me very much stuck (I confess that for that one I had to look up the solution), but this dungeon, while difficult, was manageable as a 'final' dungeon.
The next dungeon, the Ancient Ruins, was a breather of a dungeon - a good thing, here, after the immense complexity of levels 8 and 9 - until the boss! This is the hardest mandatory boss of the game, and I confess I stopped playing one time when I reached it and couldn't beat it. This boss can be a little frustrating as it likes to teleport you around and make bomb drops disappear when you're about to pick them up, but this is not the quest's fault, as it was made with ZC 2.10, being an otherwise amazing boss fight.
Following this was when I did the three late-game dungeons as led to by the in-game Lightwulf (smooth creator cameo there! Though you put all sorts of PureZC members in too - myself included - so I can't complain
): The Sunken Ship, a wonderful mini-dungeon for the Master Sword; the Desert Ravine, with an insane boss fight (seriously, a Death Knight, two Splitting Darknuts, and two Mirror Wizzrobes in one room? And a Level 2 Manhandla for good measure) for the Gold Ring; and the nice and quite fun Key Maze. These three dungeons save the Underworld from being too affected by the issues I stated before.Then the final dungeon. While easier, it works as a grand finale to the quest, and has the nicely creative bomb-wall maze. The final battle(s) were decently fun, though due to 2.10's limitations, the Ganon battle was a little bit underwhelming, especially since we didn't get a Big Damn Boss Fight against our good friend Xanthis.
Overall, a really good quest with a few small issues, a couple of which are caused by ZC 2.10's limitations. Hoping you get round to making another one soon!
- Lightwulf likes this
Useless Old Man Wisdom
Posted 04 April 2015 - 08:41 PM
The quest starts out very bland and somewhat boring, and I have to admit I waited months before I decided to try playing on beyond level 1. The progression of the story is fleeting through the first 7 dungeons, and the path is painfully linear with little interesting exploring to be done. The challenge is also quite little and this is one of those quests that throws massive amounts of rupees and bombs your way with almost nothing to spend the money on, or bomb upgrades to find.
That said, once you attain the sudden ability to swim (flippers) the entire game opens up to something much better. The author isn't kidding when he says that water is the dividing force amongst the land where this quest takes place. At this point, you start to encounter the story of the quest, which is an interesting story, and you're free to more or less choose your own adventure - especially after level 8. The challenge picks up around level 8, but is never undue or even frustrating - dare I say, its a challenge keeping with a real Zelda game.
I'd rate this quest pretty low based on the first half of the game, but the second half after level 7 is pretty brilliant. Maybe that's what the author means by a blend of NES gameplay and a "story-driven" quest. I'd pick the story-driven quest given those two choices. Level 8 and the areas preceding the way to there are pretty brilliant and you can tell there was some effort put into making it look polished and visually appealing. The tileset throughout the quest is also something visually appealing in comparison to the classic tileset, and there's quite a bit of spritework done. The underworld contains some interesting dynamics, side quests and levels, though the final boss fight was very underwhelming.
Overall, I'll rate this one 4/5 and would recommend the bored or doubtful to stick with it through level 7 - because the quest picks up dramatically after then.
That said, once you attain the sudden ability to swim (flippers) the entire game opens up to something much better. The author isn't kidding when he says that water is the dividing force amongst the land where this quest takes place. At this point, you start to encounter the story of the quest, which is an interesting story, and you're free to more or less choose your own adventure - especially after level 8. The challenge picks up around level 8, but is never undue or even frustrating - dare I say, its a challenge keeping with a real Zelda game.
I'd rate this quest pretty low based on the first half of the game, but the second half after level 7 is pretty brilliant. Maybe that's what the author means by a blend of NES gameplay and a "story-driven" quest. I'd pick the story-driven quest given those two choices. Level 8 and the areas preceding the way to there are pretty brilliant and you can tell there was some effort put into making it look polished and visually appealing. The tileset throughout the quest is also something visually appealing in comparison to the classic tileset, and there's quite a bit of spritework done. The underworld contains some interesting dynamics, side quests and levels, though the final boss fight was very underwhelming.
Overall, I'll rate this one 4/5 and would recommend the bored or doubtful to stick with it through level 7 - because the quest picks up dramatically after then.
- Lightwulf likes this
Air Luigi
Posted 21 February 2015 - 09:57 PM
This is an awesome quest that I recommend for everyone that like to explore! It's full of surprises, secrets and charm (I am inside the quest!!!). The dungeons start really simple, but there are really creative ideas later in the quest (L8 the best level in the quest). My only gripe is that the underworld isn't as inspired as the rest of the quest, and the difficulty is a bit too much in the easy side.
- Lightwulf likes this
Demonlink
Posted 28 January 2015 - 07:54 PM
At first, you almost lost me due to the simple and what looked as your standard Zelda 1 Gameplay. However, as I was digging deeper and deeper into this quest, it suddenly hooked me! And as I was getting towards the end of this quest, I HAD to finish it. The story is unique and kinda Sci-Fi related, (which I likes!) The dungeons get harder of course, but one that didn't stand out to me was Level 5, because of its straight "get to the end" design. No big deal though, the rest of the game made me forget about that small detail.
I also enjoyed how you handled backtracking into previous dungeons with new items. This can be a key concept and fun to do if you execute it even better than to just return for a Piece of Heart. The graphics are really fitting and I love the way you modified the Classic set into a more modern type of art. As for bosses... it could have been cooler to see more custom boss fights at the end of each dungeon instead of the default ones. But since it's your first quest and made in 2.10, I can make that point slide
You also seem to know how to create awesome tricks at its fullest in 2.10, some of which include the famous "One Time Event" trigger, and you pulled it off nicely in that sidequest of Monster Village. To wrap it all up, I enjoyed this quest, and especially the Underworld, of the best Classic Overworlds I have ever seen. I hope to see more of your future projects. This is definitely worth playing!
I also enjoyed how you handled backtracking into previous dungeons with new items. This can be a key concept and fun to do if you execute it even better than to just return for a Piece of Heart. The graphics are really fitting and I love the way you modified the Classic set into a more modern type of art. As for bosses... it could have been cooler to see more custom boss fights at the end of each dungeon instead of the default ones. But since it's your first quest and made in 2.10, I can make that point slide
You also seem to know how to create awesome tricks at its fullest in 2.10, some of which include the famous "One Time Event" trigger, and you pulled it off nicely in that sidequest of Monster Village. To wrap it all up, I enjoyed this quest, and especially the Underworld, of the best Classic Overworlds I have ever seen. I hope to see more of your future projects. This is definitely worth playing!
- Useless Old Man Wisdom , Matthew and Lightwulf like this
