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The Hero of Dreams

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10 years of The Hero of Dreams!


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#16 TheLegend_njf

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Posted 28 March 2016 - 10:49 PM

I heard once in a Ted conference that when trying to sell something, people care more for the "why" than the "what. People don't care about the what as much as they do the why.

 

If your intentions behind a quest is something people feel like they can relate to, they will naturally feel much more drawn to your quest. If however, you plan to do everything by the book (or simply just do it your own way) just to make that #1 quest, you will fall short on your goals. Because people don't care about how amazing you think your product is. 

 

Air Luigi once criticized Souls of Wisdom for ironically lacking soul. It gained much popularity at the time for all the wrong reasons. It was a cryptic mess that stirred more controversy than anything. Sure, it had a lot of fans. But where is it today? It's metaphorically buried in time because it's considered one of the worst quests ever made because again, it was a rushed cryptic mess that simply had nothing to offer people. It had nothing going for it but ambitions that were too high, and the controversy it stirred. When I released that quest, my attitude also very much about the what and not the why. Nobody knew why I made the quest, they just knew that I released what I thought was at the time some big thing and it was as if I scammed the entire community. I didn't mean to do that intentionally, I did want to make a great quest, but none of the less, the community felt scammed (or trolled specifically), and I wasn't very popular because of this. 

 

Hero of Dreams however was very "why" focused. You know why this quest was made the very first moment you pick it up, and it didn't promise the community anything it couldn't deliver. It didn't come out and say "This is what I am" because if it did, it would probably have been likely nobody would have given a damn because people often react to new things with a subtle "why should I care what you have?" that's kinda in unspoken terms. They cared more about the why Hero of Dreams was, not the what it was. It had that very soul that many quests lack. In the end, it's "what" established itself through reception and legacy.


Edited by NewJourneysFire, 28 March 2016 - 10:57 PM.

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#17 bigboylink

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Posted 29 March 2016 - 11:32 PM

Regarding the "not holding up to more modern projects" notion - imo it's fair to apply that criticism to the quest's custom bosses, but that's about it (and fwiw, "Eat the Rich" is still an awesome "boss tune").  
 
The overworld and dungeons are still among the best in the database, even by 2016 standards.  Gonna have to give this quest a replay sometime soon.


#18 Russ

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Posted 29 March 2016 - 11:56 PM

I'm gonna have to agree with the above sentiment. The bosses... yeah, they really show their age now. They were cool at the time, but now they're just kinda awkward. Everything else though is great. The overworld design is fantastic, and the dungeons (level 2 aside, which is still good. just not phenomenal) are amazing. You pushed 2.10 to its limits, but it very rarely feels jarring or forced, but rather very natural. There are very few places where I thought "This would've been better if he'd used 2.5 mechanics rather than rigging 2.10 to do it."

I feel an update to 2.5 that did nothing but fix compatibility issues and replace the current bosses with scripted versions would be wonderful. So much of the quest still holds up that very few changes would actually need to be made.
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#19 DarkFlameSheep

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 08:31 AM

No doubt HoD is one of best fangames which I played, even now I believe HoD is fresh, of course it has some flows but even best official games have flows. 

 

Custom bosses aged? For example, in Japan, zelda1 was released at 1986, and Super Mario64 at 1996. So aging custom bossed is a natural thing.


Edited by Stray Sheep, 30 March 2016 - 08:45 AM.


#20 TheLegend_njf

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 08:41 AM

If you ask me, it's time for Hero of Dreams High Def.



#21 DarkFlameSheep

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 08:51 AM

If you ask me, it's time for Hero of Dreams High Def.

 

Not for you. And I can't mean High Def, what does mean it?


Edited by Stray Sheep, 30 March 2016 - 08:51 AM.


#22 Russ

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 02:37 PM

If you ask me, it's time for Hero of Dreams High Def.

Assuming you're arguing for updating it to a newer tileset like PTUX, I gotta disagree. Part of HoD's appeal comes from that oldschool Pure tileset charm. It'd still be a good quest with new graphics, of course, byt the older graphics are part of the appeal. Plus, do you know how much work it'd be to update it to a new tileset. :P

If you were just making a joke about an updated re-release, my bad, carry on.

#23 TheLegend_njf

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 03:34 PM

If you were just making a joke about an updated re-release, my bad, carry on.

 

:bounce:



#24 Yloh

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 03:48 PM

One does not simply understand the humor of NJF.

 

Back on track: I really love that commercial Shoelace. Looking at that monitor reminds me of the good old windows 3.0 days.


Edited by Yloh, 30 March 2016 - 03:52 PM.

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#25 pixcalibur

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 05:13 PM

The commercial advertising HoD was epic, and I think it was TeamUDF who was singing to that overworld theme.

Except for some of the bosses (due to ZC 2.10 limitations I presume), everything was actually pretty good and flowed well.  Suspense in the complete ending cliffhanger and what will happen afterward still leaves me wondering what will play out then. 

Having ZC 2.50 should make any following sequel more crisp and flexible overall.  Should keep that overworld theme midi in the sequel somewhere, just too catchy to listen to.


Edited by pixcalibur, 30 March 2016 - 05:14 PM.


#26 P-Tux7

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Posted 28 May 2018 - 11:15 AM

I don't know if you're still around, but I hate to say that the DX verson's secret ending really put me off ever actually ppaying this quest. Having to beat the hard bonus level just to get some guy killing Link and a sequel hook? That's just mean spirited. Not to mention that I don't like cliffhangers or "wait for the sequel!" parts in games but that is just me.
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#27 SofaKing

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Posted 10 June 2018 - 04:53 PM

So literally the last 3% of content somehow killed the first 97% for you?



#28 P-Tux7

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Posted 10 June 2018 - 06:32 PM

So literally the last 3% of content somehow killed the first 97% for you?

Well, it does steal your victory right at the end. And it was one of the main features of the deluxe edition so it's a rather nasty surprise, especially after a difficult bonus level. Perhaps I DID get spoiled a bit by Cave Story doing the same thing except the secret ending was happy



#29 Anthus

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Posted 10 June 2018 - 07:50 PM

I never beat this, or got past the first dungeon, and I'm not sure why. I think honestly, it was because of all the hype. I was one of those (stupid) people who will not like something if it is popular, or trending. I do remember not liking the first dungeon though, but it was so long ago, I couldn't tell you why exactly.

 

I would think for the 10 year anniversary, you'd release a 2.5 version. As it is now, I'm not sure if I can play this, since I wouldn't want to hit a compatibility bug, and I don't really want to mess around with 2.10.2.

 

The commercial is still pretty funny though. :)

 

Okay, I just realized this thread was 2 years old, and got bumped. Welp, my points still stand. :P



#30 SofaKing

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Posted 11 June 2018 - 09:27 PM

I like the first dungeon just for that Aerosmith MIDI, if nothing else.




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