Jump to content

Lost Isle

Rating: 4.61/5 (83 ratings)
Photo

Lost Isle


  • Please log in to reply
246 replies to this topic

#226 vravelo

vravelo

    I was killed a lot""---, try me now..!

  • Members
  • Real Name:mayembe
  • Location:FROM FAR BEYOND...!

Posted 04 February 2018 - 01:23 AM

Anyone know how to save in this game without dying?

just use those savings spots and press enter...



#227 pokedude729

pokedude729

    Newbie

  • Members

Posted 04 February 2018 - 02:15 AM

just use those savings spots and press enter...


What saving spots?

#228 vravelo

vravelo

    I was killed a lot""---, try me now..!

  • Members
  • Real Name:mayembe
  • Location:FROM FAR BEYOND...!

Posted 04 February 2018 - 10:47 PM

What saving spots?

oooppsss, wrong idea,, to save pres F6 , you can save ending the game here, to quit zlda press F10 :confused:



#229 Slagr

Slagr

    Newbie

  • Members

Posted 15 February 2018 - 03:21 AM

Only about an hour in but I have a minor complaint.  The narration is excessive at some points and detracts form the immersion.

After the opening cutscene showing a shipwreck in a storm we see Link lying on a beach and a crab scuttles offscreen carrying his sword.  Then Link wakes up and tells us he washed up on shore after a shipwreck and that his sword is missing.  This would be offputting on its own but it's compounded by the fact that most players of this game have either played Link's Awakening already or otherwise have some experience understanding nonverbal cutscenes of this type from other games.  It comes across as infantilizing.
 

In Link to the Past, when you enter the village in the dark world it's very clear that it's abandoned and in disrepair simply by looking at it.  The same is true for the village in Lost Isle.  Why was it necessary for Link to point it out in a cutscene?

I also laughed when I walked into the graveyard for the first time and Link said, "This must be where they bury their dead."

I get that this is quest is in the story-driven genre but I think that in interactive media such as games, allowing the player to reason things out on their own often makes the story more compelling.  Unnecessary cutscenes are not only offputting for the above reasons but also because they break the flow of the game.  And in a game as polished and otherwise immersive as this one it's very disappointing.

All this being said I recognize that this was made over a decade ago and I would imagine your design philosophy may be significantly different now.  I understand you have no intent to release further updates but I think a reduced-narration version would be fantastic.


Edited by Slagr, 15 February 2018 - 05:30 AM.

  • Anthus and Avaro like this

#230 Anarchy_Balsac

Anarchy_Balsac

    Quest Builder

  • Members

Posted 21 February 2018 - 05:27 AM

Yeah that awesome music is from "The Gate", Episode 4 ... https://www.youtube....h?v=X_mbJTNXJ3E- watch this. :)

 

Also is it just me, or did Duke Nukem use those songs terribly, while LI used them awesomely?



#231 Shane

Shane

    đź’™

  • Moderators
  • Pronouns:He / Him
  • Location:South Australia

Posted 21 February 2018 - 05:47 AM

Only about an hour in but I have a minor complaint.  The narration is excessive at some points and detracts form the immersion.

After the opening cutscene showing a shipwreck in a storm we see Link lying on a beach and a crab scuttles offscreen carrying his sword.  Then Link wakes up and tells us he washed up on shore after a shipwreck and that his sword is missing.  This would be offputting on its own but it's compounded by the fact that most players of this game have either played Link's Awakening already or otherwise have some experience understanding nonverbal cutscenes of this type from other games.  It comes across as infantilizing.
 
In Link to the Past, when you enter the village in the dark world it's very clear that it's abandoned and in disrepair simply by looking at it.  The same is true for the village in Lost Isle.  Why was it necessary for Link to point it out in a cutscene?

I also laughed when I walked into the graveyard for the first time and Link said, "This must be where they bury their dead."

I get that this is quest is in the story-driven genre but I think that in interactive media such as games, allowing the player to reason things out on their own often makes the story more compelling.  Unnecessary cutscenes are not only offputting for the above reasons but also because they break the flow of the game.  And in a game as polished and otherwise immersive as this one it's very disappointing.

All this being said I recognize that this was made over a decade ago and I would imagine your design philosophy may be significantly different now.  I understand you have no intent to release further updates but I think a reduced-narration version would be fantastic.

While I agree that show more tell less is a good philosophy for storytelling, I'd argue Lost Isle is pretty light on story and calling it excessive seems a bit extreme as they're mostly just one line of dialogue when entering a new region. There definitely are cases in the quest where information might be obvious already but the example you used for LttP doesn't work because the village ruins in LttP do not play a part in the main story, it's just an area to help convey the tone of the story and world where as Lost Isle the village does play more importance to the lore of the quest as there's a main story to be told there and it's also there to develop some foreshadowing for the finale. But even then it's not that much information spoonfed to you. I'd hate to see how you'll react to some of the more wordy quests on the database. :P



#232 Avaro

Avaro

    o_o

  • Members
  • Real Name:Robin
  • Location:Germany

Posted 21 February 2018 - 10:03 AM

The main point I agree with here is don't point out the obvious.



#233 Anarchy_Balsac

Anarchy_Balsac

    Quest Builder

  • Members

Posted 21 February 2018 - 10:15 AM

TBH, I'm not a fan of "Show, don't tell".  It CAN be used right, but more often than not, the mystery just leads it not really being resolved (which itself can be good under the right conditions), which leads to it eventually being resolved via the creator's word, or an update, or a sequel.  And the resolution?  Itself a dud, as the mystery loses its spark when it is resolved.

 

Long story short, it has to be done with precision, or else it's actually worse than jut outright explaining it.



#234 DarkFlameWolf

DarkFlameWolf

    Murana Wolford

  • Members

Posted 11 October 2018 - 05:33 PM

I don't really recall why those were put in, honestly.

@anarchy_balsac


Edited by DarkFlameWolf, 27 October 2018 - 09:13 AM.


#235 DarkFlameWolf

DarkFlameWolf

    Murana Wolford

  • Members

Posted 27 October 2018 - 06:46 PM

I'm thinking of streaming this in the near future for Twitch. Would anyone be interested in watching me roll through this quest of mine?


  • Lightwulf and Deedee like this

#236 Deedee

Deedee

    Bug Frog Dragon Girl

  • Moderators
  • Real Name:Deedee
  • Pronouns:She / Her, They / Them
  • Location:Canada

Posted 27 October 2018 - 09:45 PM

More developer commentary? Hell yes!



#237 Anthus

Anthus

    Lord of Liquids

  • Members
  • Location:Ohio

Posted 30 October 2018 - 11:46 AM

I'm thinking of streaming this in the near future for Twitch. Would anyone be interested in watching me roll through this quest of mine?


I'd be interested. No guarantee I'd watch it live cause my schedule, but I'd watch it on YouTube or something.

#238 SofaKing

SofaKing

    Defender

  • Members
  • Real Name:John
  • Location:Duluth, MN

Posted 16 November 2018 - 11:27 PM

Same.



#239 Pamfafoofle

Pamfafoofle

    Newbie

  • Members
  • Real Name:David
  • Location:Ethiopia

Posted 25 February 2019 - 12:53 AM

Lost Isle has been my favorite 2D Zelda game of all time since I discovered it about 6 years ago. I love replaying video games, so I’ve played through this quest at least half a dozen times. I think I’ll go ahead and write a full review in another post, but one of the many things I liked about this quest was how polished it was. While the world is massive and contains loads to explore, everything felt like it was readily findable and glitchfree without having to go browse help threads. I thought I had single-handedly discovered everything there was to find in Lost Isle.

 

…I was wrong. Recently I was inspired to finally browse through the (multiple!) Lost Isle help threads just to make sure nothing surprised me. My original goal was to skim through every one of the 174 pages of the original 2007+ locked thread. Yes, I am probably insane. If it makes you feel better, I’ve only gotten to page 106 and probably will lose interest before I finish, especially since nothing new seems to have turned up in the last 50 pages. Anyways, I did find several things that I never knew, so I figured for posterity, I’d post my list of Things I Never Found Out About Lost Isle Without a Help Forum.

  1. There are TWO shield/potion shops. I always knew about the Cultist Cave one, but not the earlier/more expensive one. It’s one of those things that, in hindsight, should have been obvious that it was a suspicious spot that I ought to try bombing.
  2. There is a completely extra 12th key in Bhalstok Castle. As a completionist, I have very mixed feelings about the revelation that there is an extra “cheat key”. Ah well, I shall add it to my list of things to always get—I’ll always get the 11 normal keys anyways.
  3. There are actual clues to the three Oderra Catacombs mazes. I always thought this was just trial and error (helped by mapping out the rooms). I feel dumb for not recognizing the first one; the other two are so subtle that I’m not surprised I missed them (and rather feel they should have been made a bit more obvious).
  4. The left path is definitively easier during Armageddon. I knew that there were two paths you can take, but the nature of that part of the quest doesn’t exactly lend itself to deliberate, drawn-out observation and strategizing what the best route is. =P
  5. I’m apparently the only player who tries to zero-death quests by retrying any time I die, and this has negative consequences…completing the game is much easier (I discovered this time around) when you accept a death during Armageddon and continue.
  6. Not something I found from the help forum, but I did randomly discover something new this playthrough—a hidden bomb cave with no cracked wall to mark it one scene east of the main entrance to Xaagan Wastelands, containing a random tablet talking about the Queen Fairy. I don’t suppose there are any other secret unmarked caves I’ve missed??? (EDIT: Now that I have the spoilers map...yeah, I suck at finding these hidden tablet caves. I see one in every 8x8 quadrant, and I only found one of the six on my own!)

On a related note, there was frequent reference in the 2007 help thread to a spoiler map. However, the link provided there no longer works. Does anyone know where I can find a copy of that map, just to double-check that I have now found all the secrets that the developers say exist in this quest?


Edited by Pamfafoofle, 26 February 2019 - 01:02 AM.


#240 DarkFlameWolf

DarkFlameWolf

    Murana Wolford

  • Members

Posted 25 February 2019 - 10:14 PM

Linked below is that map you've asked for. Good to hear you're finding all the secrets in the game. There is quite a lot and even I might have forgotten quite a bit!

 

xiYhjdc.png


  • Lightwulf and Pamfafoofle like this


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users