249 replies to this topic

[TheRock]

just cleared the desert and was told by someone the next location was a big castle. Is that the area to the north of the hills area

 

https://imgur.com/a/5YldPLh

?

It's the windmill that opened up in the cutscene for beating level 4. So top left of that map.

[Demonlink]

My Final Thoughts

Beat the quest a few days ago, I recently had time to post my thoughts on this quest. Also, I'm reviewing this based on me beating the quest in hard mode, so if I'm wrong about a few things, let me know. Let me start with what I actually like. I had fun exploring the vast areas since I greatly enjoy large quests. The overworld in general has a variety of areas that could keep you busy for a quite a while. My favorite areas are Desert of Mirages, Cursed Woods, Blazed Rock and Moonlight Ruins. I thought these are some of the landscapes that stand out the most given for their great atmosphere; I enjoyed Desert of Mirages the most because you could fall into some sand pits and explore be it a cave or long forgotten halls of mysteries. 

 

As for the dungeons, I love when they feel confusing and have long winding hallways that make you carefully choose on to where to go next. This is what made me fall in love with the Zelda series as to I enjoy exploring these labryinths. Most shortcuts are well rewarded, I found some puzzles unique, and some bosses were also fun to defeat. One of the coolest dungeons I could mention is Level 12, the way you traverse through color and season is a pretty neat idea, and I can imagine the time you guys went into designing it. My next favorite one would be Level 7 because of how you suddenly transition from the first floor to the basement and viceversa, it seems like a cool gimmick and the theme of a haunted mansion was also neat.

 

Now, going onto those small details and quirks that I didn't like and at some times made me get frustrated. There are some areas that won't actually let you see well by the overhead layer effects that are used for decoration, my main gripe here is the forest where you go towards Level 1. Those overhead shadows really don't do it if the whole screen is covered by them, it quickly becomes an eyesore to the point it gets a bit tired navigating screen by screen. Even though I loved Blazed Rock for the hot and volcanic wasteland, it suffers from the same issue like the forest.

 

Like Useless Old Man Wisdom had mentioned in a previous post, I also strongly suggest that you evenly level all of your background music; there were points where I had to often change my volume because either the music would become too loud or too quiet. 

 

As for the dungeons, I felt for the need of a spacebar map, because of the same reasons they are gigantic, navigation became harder on each dungeon where I could be lost for hours until I finally saw where and what to do next. Block puzzles also became tiring and boring at some times, although I did get puzzled on that particular one in Sacred Realm. Level 6 was my least favorite dungeon because it felt like an absolute mess. By mess I mean that almost every room felt cluttered and didn't give you much space to breath in. Another thing are some clear enemy rooms, filling a single room with lots of enemies doesn't turn it into a good game design option, because of the same reason there isn't always enough room to actually avoid them or to defend yourself. The pinnacle of this example are some rooms in Tower of Heavens. Really? Four or more death knights in a single room? Those things have an only weakness with the hookshot that is very tricky to execute for their quick speed and homing on to Link. Traps, I hate the way some traps are placed on some rooms in general. There are various dungeon areas that have you entering a room and not having enough time to react because there is a trap right in front of you. Other rooms have no visual cues on hidden traps, and boom, when you're walking you take unavoidable damage because the player had no idea about this. That's a cheapshot right there. Actually, the biggest cheapshots are the giant traps found in Tower of Heavens, the one with the blinking eyes. Touching these things instakill you, and I had to find that out the hard way. What about having a hall full of them? No wait, two halls full of them on floors 25 and 26? Those rooms are poorly executed, there is not enough of a window to bypass them and trigger the switches needed to progress. I thought I was overeacting since this was on hard mode, I changed to easy mode and saw that these things tank 32 full hearts if you have all 33. No, I understand this is supposed to be the last trial of the game, but these parts are unbearable and felt very frustrating. 

 

Same goes for two specific bosses: Arthos and the boss of Floor 24 of ToH. Arthos is just a hell bullet that once again, is dealt on a claustrophobic space where you need to tank some damage and be lucky to survive without the need to start again from the Bromus battle. Beating Bromus and healing the player is a must, especially if you don't have a potion. As for the sun god, he did feel challenging, except when he spawns those darknuts. That is a game breaker, because you can't concentrate on defending yourself from both, especially when the guy summons about 6 or more. If he only spawned about 2 or maybe 3, the battle would be more doable. 

 

Wrapping this up, I'm giving the game a rate of 4 out of 5. The majority of the time I had fun, and hopefully the next quest will be even better executed.

 

[PlotArmorSmith]

I have noticed that both Useless Old Man Wisdom and Demonlink have noticed a sound imbalance with the background music. I have noticed a version specific problem with the sound balance. If you play the quest in ZC2.53 the background music is significantly better balanced. I tested playing both the quest file with the 2.53 in the name in ZC2.55 as well as the quest file with the 2.55 in the name in the newest nightly build of ZC2.55 and could hear the sound imbalance. I do not know how they changed the sound settings when they went from ZC2.53 to ZC2.55. Note that you can still download a version of ZC2.53 from the archives. I tested the ZC2.53 downloaded from archive 3 and the sound is balanced in that version.

 

A fast test to check the sound balance is to play until you get the sword and try tapping the wall in the cave in the first town with your sword.

 

Later edit: so I looked at the version history of ZC2.55 and noticed that starting with version 2.55alpha117 they had different music mixing. I went back and did the above test to check the music balance in 2.55alpha111 and the music balance seemed to better than with 2.55alpha120. My guess is that this could be a factor in the music balance.

Edited by PlotArmorSmith, 20 January 2024 - 10:58 AM.

[TheRock]

My Final Thoughts

 blinking eyes. Touching these things instakill you, and I had to find that out the hard way. What about having a hall full of them? No wait, two halls full of them on floors 25 and 26? Those rooms are poorly executed, there is not enough of a window to bypass them and trigger the switches needed to progress. I thought I was overeacting since this was on hard mode, I changed to easy mode and saw that these things tank 32 full hearts if you have all 33. No, I understand this is supposed to be the last trial of the game, but these parts are unbearable and felt very frustrating. 

 

 

Yeah it's meant to instant kill you. I love that gameplay there and is why it's placed where it's. I was worried it was to easy so glad to hear it's hard enough. Those floors are meant to have super hard puzzles and super hard challenge screens, thus the really easy to progress on that dungeon if you need to retry. Try my quest OverHead if you want more gameplay like that. That game pretty much all of the screens are like that.

Full playthrough of OverHead: https://www.youtube....tsEVfxv&index=4

Edited by TheRock, 20 January 2024 - 11:12 AM.

[Malstygian]

Spoiler

I am missing a key somewhere from Floors 23-26 of the Tower of Heavens. I believe I got all the keys on Floors 25 and 26 with the insta kill traps... The key I think I am missing is on Floor 23 in the room with the colored crystals and cardinal directions on the floor.

 

  - The owl statue says "Blue is 12, Red is 6, Green is 3, Black is 9; S is 12, N is 6, W is 3, E is 9. Mirror the time and revert it back to normal which hour is it?"

  - On Floor 23, I found a room with 4 colored crystals and the cardinal directions on the floor. There was a hidden path south in the 6 direction - is that all I needed to do in that room?

  - Was the room I described above instructions for a similar type room that produces a key? Do I need to hit the crystals in a certain order?

  - If this isn't my missing key, any idea where it could be? I did get both keys on Floor 21 where the blue blocks had to be down and the other where the red blocks had to be down.

[TheRock]

Spoiler

I am missing a key somewhere from Floors 23-26 of the Tower of Heavens. I believe I got all the keys on Floors 25 and 26 with the insta kill traps... The key I think I am missing is on Floor 23 in the room with the colored crystals and cardinal directions on the floor.

 

  - The owl statue says "Blue is 12, Red is 6, Green is 3, Black is 9; S is 12, N is 6, W is 3, E is 9. Mirror the time and revert it back to normal which hour is it?"

  - On Floor 23, I found a room with 4 colored crystals and the cardinal directions on the floor. There was a hidden path south in the 6 direction - is that all I needed to do in that room?

  - Was the room I described above instructions for a similar type room that produces a key? Do I need to hit the crystals in a certain order?

  - If this isn't my missing key, any idea where it could be? I did get both keys on Floor 21 where the blue blocks had to be down and the other where the red blocks had to be down.

Spoiler

The keys are on floor 25 and 26. Here're all 7 locations they could be: 

 

Edited by TheRock, 21 January 2024 - 02:29 PM.

[csharporbflat]

what is the curesed woods maze path? I tried like to guy said to push every grave I could find that was behind a tree. None did, so now this is where I am stuck.

[TheRock]

what is the curesed woods maze path? I tried like to guy said to push every grave I could find that was behind a tree. None did, so now this is where I am stuck.

Go right on this  screen. That will take you to the grave stones.

 

[csharporbflat]

don't think I was able to reach that screen, looks like i needed to go through maze to reach it. Do I have to go back through the swamp again? Don't make me go through the swamp again.

Edited by csharporbflat, 21 January 2024 - 02:34 PM.

[PlotArmorSmith]

csharporbflat there are two maze paths in the swamp. One maze is on the path to light one of the torches (I believe the top left one) and the other is after lighting all four torches with the screen with the tree with scent seeds. The maze path through the first maze is left, down, down and up. The screen TheRock shows is shortly after the first maze path and will lead you to where the maze path directions are for the second maze path. 

[Demonlink]

Yeah it's meant to instant kill you. I love that gameplay there and is why it's placed where it's. I was worried it was to easy so glad to hear it's hard enough. Those floors are meant to have super hard puzzles and super hard challenge screens, thus the really easy to progress on that dungeon if you need to retry. Try my quest OverHead if you want more gameplay like that. That game pretty much all of the screens are like that.
Full playthrough of OverHead: https://www.youtube....tsEVfxv&index=4

I still feel it's harsh and would be very annoying to those who want to finish the dungeon. Instakills are a big no for me, but that's just me. I think it could be done it a much better way. I'd leave the puzzle as it is but being more generous on the damage, 10 hearts on the cosmic tunic maybe? Or leave the instakills, but make the puzzles have a bit more of reaction timing since you have to be very VERY precise; either I suck or my controller doesn't react fast enough to the button inputs.

Still,consider this as a constructive comment, I don't want to sound like I'm forcing stuff

[TheRock]

I still feel it's harsh and would be very annoying to those who want to finish the dungeon. Instakills are a big no for me, but that's just me. I think it could be done it a much better way. I'd leave the puzzle as it is but being more generous on the damage, 10 hearts on the cosmic tunic maybe? Or leave the instakills, but make the puzzles have a bit more of reaction timing since you have to be very VERY precise; either I suck or my controller doesn't react fast enough to the button inputs.

Still,consider this as a constructive comment, I don't want to sound like I'm forcing stuff

Spoiler

Open the quest file and find the secret boss. It's a warp on the first screen you open.

[csharporbflat]

In mansion, can someone tell me the path to get to the right side of this screen. 

 

https://imgur.com/a/HWuxOUl

 

I know I have been there before, just don't remember how i did it.

[TheRock]

In mansion, can someone tell me the path to get to the right side of this screen. 

 

https://imgur.com/a/HWuxOUl

 

I know I have been there before, just don't remember how i did it.

From the screen in the dungeon, up, up, right, left, and then left.

[csharporbflat]

From the screen in the dungeon, up, up, right, left, and then left.

I can't go up on the left side of that screen, I am trying to get to the screen to the right of it so I can get through the block I just opened. From the start how would I get to the screen 1 screen right of the one on the image?