You're welcome, James. Thanks for the feedback. To address your points:
1) The clue for the NW maze is in
and the clue for the forest maze is in Level 2.
2) The Pancakes clue is kind of a fudge, it was really
3) True you don't have to have that key, but if you do it shortens up your trip on return visits or if you don't have the cash, you can exit. I'm like you though, I don't like having a bunch of extra keys, or even being able to buy one, although I did put in a very hard to find key shop just in case I messed up, or someone was pretty desperate.
4) I was hoping the average player would have to use pen and paper for many of the dungeons. That's how I used to play the original to keep track of where I'd tried bombing and what stairs led to what. Kudos to you for not needing to till the end. There is a map to be found in L9, it just doesn't show every room. It's
Thanks again for your analysis. It was my first quest and finally hearing that someone finished it is sure encouraging in starting another.