247 replies to this topic

[Shane]

So I'm up to the final dungeon... I'm mind blown.

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed the quest so far. I've never had this much fun for awhile now. I love the open world gameplay and the dungeon design. I can't say that this is the best thing ever but it's pretty much among the best for me. I'd love to write more but I might do that after the final boss.

[Aevin]

I'm glad you're enjoying it.   I'd love to hear any thoughts you have after finishing.

[Air Luigi]

I forgot to report that I finished my second run a week ago with 6 deaths and 8 hours of gameplay   

Definitely one of the database classics. Have I said that I'm waiting for the sequel? Don't disappoint me

 

[Aevin]

Don't disappoint me

It all sounds kind of ominous when you put it that way ...   I've learned a lot in making this one and seeing more of what ZC can offer, so hopefully the sequel will turn out well.

[Shane]

I haven't had time yet to write a full fledged review nor to finish the last dungeon, but I'll point out majority of what you could improve in this quest or in the sequel. I'll also throw in stuff that I loved too. Still, expect a review.

• Personally, due to my stupidity, I muddled up the Silver Forest and Emberlain Village east entrances in Crosswind Valley. But it had me thinking, it was nice was nice seeing snow fall in the side of the entrance screen in the Crosswind Village hinting there's a snow area beyond that screen. Other areas did this as well with rain and sand. This is when I thought "hey it would be neat to see the same effect with a canopy shadow indicating this was a forest coming up", and since the screen turns black when scrolling to the forest, you can skip implementing them in the forest map. wow i was rambling a lot, sorry 

• While I love the Z1 cave look with your cave design, I didn't like the roof. I was confused with the perspective at first. Maybe replace it with dirt or sand? Or even those rock piles from the underwater map.

• I know I mentioned it before, but I think something is weird with those Octoroks. I love how you tried to reimage them into Pure, but if you can make them feel less flat, I'd personally think they'd be a welcomed addition to Pure graphics.

Now for the things I enjoyed:

• Spirit Track's overworld music. Thank yooooooooooou. I forgive Nintendo for making straightforward train exploration because of this song. But it feels more right when your traveling on foot. And I loved that you didn't keep it exclusive to one area too.
• Iconic dungeons. I loved your dungeons reflecting the best of Zelda. Each dungeon was very atmospheric and unique. You hit the nostalgia for me.
• Even though I saw a underwater area picture beforehand, I was amazed. You could even say these areas were... breathtaking. I couldn't help but think this was one of the best features of the overworld.
• The story so far (I haven't beat the final boss) is unique. I won't get into it, but I personally liked it. And from what I'm seeing so far as of my current location, things took an interesting turn.

I hope you enjoyed my unorganized thoughts. I might finish this next weekend as of right now, I want to have spare time to work on my quest as I'm helping preparing stuff with my family and whatnot.

 

tl;dr love your quest. Looking forward to the new one.

[Aevin]

Thanks for the suggestions! 

 

I've been unsure about that cave design for awhile, so I'll probably change it as you suggested. I'm not sure about the tree canopy lead in at the edge of the screen, though. Maybe I'll give it a try, but my feeling is that since the forest itself doesn't have the canopy, it would seem odd. I tried to lead in by always having a bunch of trees near the forest entrances instead. And, since I want all the screens to match bordering screens on an overworld map, it just wouldn't look right there. And, yeah, I'll tinker with those octoroks.

[antwan4000]

Can anyone help me out on where is that ocarina is hiding at?

[Aevin]

The Ocarina is back in level 2, (Temple of Droplets). It's not required to beat the level, so it's easy to miss.

 

Exact Location

Take the left path from the entrance, following it around until you reach the bomb wall, then head south. At the end of that path is a room with a backwards C shaped block formation. Push the center block to open a passage with the ocarina inside.

 

Thanks for playing.

[pixcalibur]

Ok, just finished recording my playthrough of this quest, so on the upload queue list.  Not sure when I'll be uploading this, as I have some other quests on queue as well.

 

Gotta love the master sword, quite the upgrade there with appropriate sound effects.

 

Little Review Here

+'s
- Like the Spirit Tracks over world theme. Just so catchy to listen to.
- Nice consistency with each level's theme matching to its corresponding console game
- Some of those bonus items can be real life savers, so worth finding them to even the odds in later levels.
- Pretty much an open world to explore from the beginning and can do levels out of order to vary game play.
- Interesting crossover concepts from other games

-'s
- Odd difficulty spike in level 6, maybe more so given the environment there
- Somewhat unfair gimmicks in level 9, mainly in rooms that pretty much force damage on you unless you know the room or just use Nayru's Love right away.


Overall, good length and concepts. Minor issues as noted above, but doesn't majorly detract away given you can find ways to compensate.

Edited by pixcalibur, 27 June 2014 - 10:38 PM.

[Yloh]

I just finished this quest and I really love it. Here are my thoughts.

 

This quest is truly a love letter to the Zelda series. I loved how each dungeon was taken from an actual Zelda game. My personal favorite level was the Face Shrine and the Spirit Temple.

 

There are plenty of secrets to be found. My favorite secrets where the mini dungeons of courage, power, and wisdom. This game does not hold your hand and expects you to explore the world to get stronger. It really made me feel good to find sword upgrades as I had no clue when I would encounter them.

 

As I'm learning how to use zquest myself, it is really interesting to see what can actually be done without scripting. I would like to know how you did the tunnels in Turtle Rock without scripting. I'm guessing the enemies that open and close their eyes have the tribble function on them, but I would like to know how you can make them tribble without the smoke effect.

 

While there where a lot of positives in this quest, there where some things that annoyed me. There where three levels with water in them. While I don't have much of a problem with water themed dungeons, it was the fact that Link had to explore a lot of dungeons while on slow motion. I tend to get inpatient sometimes and want to move quickly. The other problem I had was level 9. Way too many hidden passages and hidden bombable walls for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I loved the twist and the theme of the level, but it got annoying pretty fast. Especially how you could choose to go the wrong way and be forced to start at the beginning of the dungeon again.

 

The boss run was pretty cool and the reward is awesome.

 

The music choices where well chosen.

 

This is one of the best, if not the best, NES style quest I have played on this site. Great job Aevin. 5/5

[Aevin]

I'm really glad you enjoyed the quest. Thanks for playing!

 

Since I didn't use the raft, I was able to give it to Link from the beginning without any graphics, and use it for the tunnels in Turtle Rock. They're actually raft paths.

 

You hit the nail on the head with the tribbling for the eyeballs. When things tribble or split, they use the enemy's spawn animation, which you can set to "Instant" in the enemy editor, making it look fairly seamless. (Although if they're between tiles they still twitch a bit when they tribble.)

 

I think a lot of people get pretty worn out in level 6. It's large and sort of confusing, and as you said, so much of it is with the slow walk combos. I totally understand what you mean when you say the water gimmick got tiring. I'm glad to hear the issues didn't drag down your experience too much, though.

 

Thanks again.

[EpY]

where can i find the item that lights up all the rooms in level 5? i got a hint that i should look in the ruins but i cant find it.

[Aevin]

You need two items: Lv3's treasure (Level 3 is in the ruins) and the item found in Lv5 only a couple rooms away from that clue.

 

Spoiler

It's probably unnecessary to spoiler this, but you need the wand (or "fire rod") and the magic book.

[Grandeur]

So I am still combing this thread for hints about this, but I can't find anything yet:

 

In the southwest corner of crosswind valley (near the locked blue door on the beach), there is a place two screens over that is barricaded by three rocks above and below the water. There are surfacing bubbles on either side of this barrier, so it has to be reachable, but I have bombed everywhere near there and have explored every square of the underwater map, and only one thing has provided any sort of hint is the thing about the wind and the solitary beach no zora can get to. Any hints on this?

 

Fantastic quest by the way.

[Aevin]

Thanks for playing! I'm glad you're enjoying it.

 

That area is end-game stuff. If you still can't figure out how to reach it after beating level 8, the answer's in the spoiler.

Spoiler

"Only the wind visits that solitary beach" and the hint after beating the first 8 levels, "ride the wind to find your way," are pointing toward using the ocarina. Beating level 8 opens up the ocarina warp that will get you behind there, where level 9 is located.