So I cleared this quest in about 40 mins or so with no deaths. As an NES style quest, it's short and simple and the quest is quite straightforward. Screen design is quite simplistic and while there were quite a lot of tile errors located everywhere, I do see some effort with detail.
Though there are a lot of problems I found. For one, most screens were quite empty and not very interesting at all. There was a huge lack of secrets and the difficulty curve was all over the place. Going from Gibdos on the overworld to the huge difficulty spike of the Patra in Level 3, difficulty really needs to be worked on. For the most part though, the quest was too easy. There were other numerous oddities, like this, this, this and this. Besides those oddities, I also found the dungeons to be way too short and straight forward. There wasn't any puzzling rooms or a lot of backtracking where you explore more of the dungeon, everything felt more like just a straight line from Point A to Point B, and that made the quest quite boring to go through. I don't understand why you have the Map and Compass available if they don't even work, it's best to just remove them entirely. The final dungeon was also quite disappointing. I was expecting a big dungeon, but I was just greeted with an easy bomb Manhandla which I killed instantly.
I know you got 4 Temples 2 out already, but I might as well give some advice anyway. I'd suggest to add more secrets on the overworld to make exploring more fun and rewarding (and maybe you can hide some minidungeons around too). Also try to make dungeons more non-linear by having branching paths to different parts of a dungeon so that it won't look like a straight line from one place to another. Also try to keep difficulty consistent, keep the easier enemies near the beginning and gradually make them harder as you go along in the quest rather than mixing everything up together.
Overall, this quest wasn't that great to play, there's quite a lot of issues and I'm sure you've probably worked on some of this in the sequel (which I'll get to soon). I'll give this quest a 1.5/5 (which rounds up to a 2). It's a decent start, but there's a lot more that can be done.
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4 Temples
Overview
Feature Quest
Creator: Kivitoe Genre: Miniquest Added: 05 Jul 2016 Updated: 07 Jul 2016 ZC Version: 2.50 Downloads: 422 Rating[?]: |
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Information
4 Temples (4T) is an NES-style miniquest with 5 dungeons. (4 temples, a the game boss's lair).
About Reviews Comments Forum Topics
Description
4 Temples (4T) is an NES-style miniquest with 5 dungeons. (4 temples, a the game boss's lair). This quest doesn't take long to complete, maybe about an hour or so. This is a good quest for beginners/intermediates of ZC quests.
Story
One day Manhandla decided to get revenge on Hyrule, so he broke into Hyrule Castle, kidnapped Princess Zelda, and took her to his lair in the Nexus. Link was then sent to the island of Strange where the only portal to the Nexus is, but when he got there Link realized that Zelda had broken the triforce into 5 pieces. Link already had 1, but he would have to venture into the unknown to find the other 4, defeat Manhandla once and for all, and save Zelda... again.
Tips & Cheats
Spoiler
You can play the whistle on red tiles in dungeons.
Always look for secrets in screens with a small, red tree. If you have the Lense of Truth use them in that screen.
Always look for secrets in screens with a small, red tree. If you have the Lense of Truth use them in that screen.
Credits
Creator: Me
Beta testers: Me, a30502355
Beta testers: Me, a30502355
zcbeadnik
Edited 24 July 2016 - 12:16 AM
2.5/5. Not good but not bad, I guess.
Game is functional (the author corrected a game breaking bug) but still is not very fun. Needs more polish.
Justification of Score:
Cons -
>Map item and compass item are still not functional
>Key counter is still not functional
>Uninspired design
>Triggers don't follow convention, which could confuse players (also, lens does not show trigger hints)
>Story is non-existent
>Slow 4 way movement
Pros -
>Free lens (worth 1/2 a star, in my opinion)
>Rupees are plentiful
>Good items are cheap (and in the case of Swords, free) and easy to find
>Easy game
Game is functional (the author corrected a game breaking bug) but still is not very fun. Needs more polish.
Justification of Score:
Cons -
>Map item and compass item are still not functional
>Key counter is still not functional
>Uninspired design
>Triggers don't follow convention, which could confuse players (also, lens does not show trigger hints)
>Story is non-existent
>Slow 4 way movement
Pros -
>Free lens (worth 1/2 a star, in my opinion)
>Rupees are plentiful
>Good items are cheap (and in the case of Swords, free) and easy to find
>Easy game
sholl0411
Posted 09 July 2016 - 12:13 PM
I am a relatively experienced Zelda player, but this game is too easy. I was able to beat it in about an hour with only 3 deaths. The longest dungeon took me about 10 minutes to beat and it took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get to the second dungeon. I could have been able to beat the game with less than 10 deaths using only the wooden sword. There are handful of difficult rooms scattered in, but the room right after would be incredibly easy or have no enemies at all. The only rooms where killing all the enemies was mandatory was the boss rooms and a couple of rooms to collect keys. The rooms where you collect keys, it was easy enemies you had to kill like bats even in the later dungeons. I would recommend having difficult rooms back to back at least in the 3rd and 4th dungeons. The overworld was a bit bland in terms of design, but I did see some organization such as a forest, a town (even though it was one screen), a river, and mountains. I liked the music selection in the final boss area, but that area was the only area I felt stands out. Two of my three deaths occurred at the conveyor before the second dungeon boss and the other occurred because I was paying attention more to the TV than the game at the time. The quest was relatively bug free. The only minor problems that I saw was a typo in the first dungeon where the person talks to you regarding a secret in the south and the fact that your number of keys stays at zero even when you collect one. It was not a huge deal because I can still enter a keyed room when I have a key and not enter the room when I don't have the key.
I recommend improving the game by adding in bombable wall spots and burnable trees, back to back difficult dungeon rooms, and a mini-dungeon to obtain sword upgrades. I would also make the final dungeon more of an arena where you have to fight through a few enemy rooms to fight the final boss. I also do not like seeing secrets occur only on red tree rooms. Secrets should be well hidden and make you earn them. I would make the lens of truth more expensive than just 50 rubees (at least 200 rubees) and require magic to use. This will encourage players to explore their environment more and find things on their own.
In summary, this is a good game to introduce new players to the game and it is a relatively clean, short game outside of the minor typo and key issue that I mentioned. However, I would at least fix up the dungeons to make them maintain their challenges at least in the later dungeons when even beginner players become more comfortable with the game. I would also like to see the game do more to earn items such as pieces of heart and sword upgrades and have a somewhat difficult sequence before fighting the final boss.
I recommend improving the game by adding in bombable wall spots and burnable trees, back to back difficult dungeon rooms, and a mini-dungeon to obtain sword upgrades. I would also make the final dungeon more of an arena where you have to fight through a few enemy rooms to fight the final boss. I also do not like seeing secrets occur only on red tree rooms. Secrets should be well hidden and make you earn them. I would make the lens of truth more expensive than just 50 rubees (at least 200 rubees) and require magic to use. This will encourage players to explore their environment more and find things on their own.
In summary, this is a good game to introduce new players to the game and it is a relatively clean, short game outside of the minor typo and key issue that I mentioned. However, I would at least fix up the dungeons to make them maintain their challenges at least in the later dungeons when even beginner players become more comfortable with the game. I would also like to see the game do more to earn items such as pieces of heart and sword upgrades and have a somewhat difficult sequence before fighting the final boss.
Tabletpillow
Posted 07 July 2016 - 10:10 PM
This quest looks a lot more polished than it looked before. I'm impressed! There were quite a few minor bugs here and there, and the screen design could've been a lot better. But overall, this quest is pretty solid to me. There's nothing really wrong with this quest, but there could've been a lot more as well.
Anarchy_Balsac
Posted 07 July 2016 - 07:20 PM
I got bored with this and beat it without fully exploring the content, however, a few things to note:
A) It's super easy, which is ok, but you may want to let users know in the description. Some people like easier quests, some, such as me, prefer super hard ones, but letting people know is good either way. How easy is it? Level 1 and 2 are easily done with the green tunic, 3 hearts, and wooden sword. In fact, you can completely avoid being damaged in level 2, which is oddly a lot easier than even level 1.
B). Some screens have no enemies, which, again, is ok, but there needs to be a reason for that. Is it a place that terrifies the monsters? A dungeon entrance? A place magic blocks them from going?
C). Music doesn't always loop properly, and some push block appear to have a mis-matched under-combo. It feels like there was no play testing at all. This may not be the case, but it feels that way. Because as previously noted, the map and compass don't seem to do anything.
A) It's super easy, which is ok, but you may want to let users know in the description. Some people like easier quests, some, such as me, prefer super hard ones, but letting people know is good either way. How easy is it? Level 1 and 2 are easily done with the green tunic, 3 hearts, and wooden sword. In fact, you can completely avoid being damaged in level 2, which is oddly a lot easier than even level 1.
B). Some screens have no enemies, which, again, is ok, but there needs to be a reason for that. Is it a place that terrifies the monsters? A dungeon entrance? A place magic blocks them from going?
C). Music doesn't always loop properly, and some push block appear to have a mis-matched under-combo. It feels like there was no play testing at all. This may not be the case, but it feels that way. Because as previously noted, the map and compass don't seem to do anything.
zcbeadnik
Edited 07 July 2016 - 07:08 PM
A few notes:
A) You may want to put few triggers or item checks that appear before going into the dark world. I was able to get the magic sword with 4 hearts, 10 minutes into the game.
B) The dungeon map and compass do not appear in the subscreen.
C) The key counter does not count how many keys the player has.
D) There are a few typos (I don't hold that against anyone, especially ESL people, but it it's helpful to know).
E) Triggers need to follow convention (i.e. Gohma eye = arrow) in order to reduce player confusion.
F) As Alucard said, Level 5 is a point of no return... and F6 - Save (and subsequently quit) is the only way to get out.
A) You may want to put few triggers or item checks that appear before going into the dark world. I was able to get the magic sword with 4 hearts, 10 minutes into the game.
B) The dungeon map and compass do not appear in the subscreen.
C) The key counter does not count how many keys the player has.
D) There are a few typos (I don't hold that against anyone, especially ESL people, but it it's helpful to know).
E) Triggers need to follow convention (i.e. Gohma eye = arrow) in order to reduce player confusion.
F) As Alucard said, Level 5 is a point of no return... and F6 - Save (and subsequently quit) is the only way to get out.
- coolgamer012345 likes this
coolgamer012345
Posted 06 July 2016 - 04:58 PM
So, I decided to play this and wanted to give some advice.
First off, a lot of the screen design is rather open and in many cases rather boring. For example, the starting screen:
There's a lot of empty space (especially in the top-center of the screen) and there's only a single row of mountain tiles in the top and bottom of the screen (which, in itself wouldn't be too much of an issue, but it's making the screen more open here, which really isn't helping). Making the mountains come into the screen a bit more would help. Also maybe some patches of small bushes rather than them just being placed haphazardly.
Another common thing I've noticed is screens with too much mountains, which is also problematic. For example:
When there's that much mountain, it looks very boring. I don't really have any advice on how to fix something like this without completely re-doing the screen.
And that leads me onto another issue, in that areas are bigger than they need to be, and makes it seem like a lot of the screens are there just to be there. Some examples:
I'd suggest redesigning the areas some rather than just putting stuff on the screens.
Something else I'd suggest doing is putting the Whistle in a dungeon, rather than a shop, since it's needed for progression and could be missed if someone didn't bother to grind for enough money for the shop (or just forgot that it was in the shop at all). I'd also suggest putting the Lens somewhere, since it might be used, though I suppose isn't technically needed to progress.
Also, a lot of screens have way too many enemies or enemies that are tedious to fight early on (Goriya's, Gidbo's, Likelike's). Speaking of Likelikes, why were they on the overworld? Also why was there only a single screen with them?
There's also some odd choices for secret triggers and such. First example I can think of is this:
It took me a while to realize that's a magic trigger.
Another example:
I wouldn't say this is too big of an issue (the gohma's eye is a boomerang trigger), but it's still a bit odd. Also, the Gohma statue's eye turning into a rock looks kind of jarring. And the screen the cave-hole leads too is kind of odd:
The mountains look really weird when next to the dungeon walls like that. Also those arrows aren't needed at all, since the key is really obvious.
Lastly, like Alucard648 mentioned, in the 5th dungeon you can't go back out the bottom of the screen. If you save and quit, you go back to the overworld, though.
...
While I'd like to go through many more screens to give some advice on them, I can't really do that. I tried to be general with the critique (like, it could be applied to more parts of the quest than just the screen I mentioned) but I dunno how well I did that. Hopefully you take some of this into account.
(Also, I would of made this a review but I wanted to critique some of the stuff in the quest rather than review the entire thing).
First off, a lot of the screen design is rather open and in many cases rather boring. For example, the starting screen:
There's a lot of empty space (especially in the top-center of the screen) and there's only a single row of mountain tiles in the top and bottom of the screen (which, in itself wouldn't be too much of an issue, but it's making the screen more open here, which really isn't helping). Making the mountains come into the screen a bit more would help. Also maybe some patches of small bushes rather than them just being placed haphazardly.
Another common thing I've noticed is screens with too much mountains, which is also problematic. For example:
When there's that much mountain, it looks very boring. I don't really have any advice on how to fix something like this without completely re-doing the screen.
And that leads me onto another issue, in that areas are bigger than they need to be, and makes it seem like a lot of the screens are there just to be there. Some examples:
I'd suggest redesigning the areas some rather than just putting stuff on the screens.
Something else I'd suggest doing is putting the Whistle in a dungeon, rather than a shop, since it's needed for progression and could be missed if someone didn't bother to grind for enough money for the shop (or just forgot that it was in the shop at all). I'd also suggest putting the Lens somewhere, since it might be used, though I suppose isn't technically needed to progress.
Also, a lot of screens have way too many enemies or enemies that are tedious to fight early on (Goriya's, Gidbo's, Likelike's). Speaking of Likelikes, why were they on the overworld? Also why was there only a single screen with them?
There's also some odd choices for secret triggers and such. First example I can think of is this:
It took me a while to realize that's a magic trigger.
Another example:
I wouldn't say this is too big of an issue (the gohma's eye is a boomerang trigger), but it's still a bit odd. Also, the Gohma statue's eye turning into a rock looks kind of jarring. And the screen the cave-hole leads too is kind of odd:
The mountains look really weird when next to the dungeon walls like that. Also those arrows aren't needed at all, since the key is really obvious.
Lastly, like Alucard648 mentioned, in the 5th dungeon you can't go back out the bottom of the screen. If you save and quit, you go back to the overworld, though.
...
While I'd like to go through many more screens to give some advice on them, I can't really do that. I tried to be general with the critique (like, it could be applied to more parts of the quest than just the screen I mentioned) but I dunno how well I did that. Hopefully you take some of this into account.
(Also, I would of made this a review but I wanted to critique some of the stuff in the quest rather than review the entire thing).
- zcbeadnik likes this
4 Temples Released!Started by Kivitoe , 06 Jul 2016 |
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