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[ywkls]

Part 47

 

The Goddess' Towers are revealed via a scripted secret.

If you enter the screen when you have the right item, they show up.

I have been trying to come up with a good way to reveal all eight locations, but so far nothing feels right.

 

The Sleepy Thwomp was chosen because I didn't want to have a sideview section for just one screen.

You can boost your damage underwater.

I consider the Octogon fight in the Goddess' Tower one of the hardest in the quest.

This is because not only does he have double health and defense, but he regens too!

 

To enter the Secret Corridor, there are several requirements.

By defeating all 9 Mario Monsters, you meet the first of them.

Next, you must collect all 10 Shadow Shards.

Third, you have to obtain all 20 Secret Seashells and get the Fierce Diety's Sword from Seashell Mansion.

Fourth, you must finish the Trading Sequence.

Fifth, you must complete all 8 Siren's Keeps.

Sixth, you have to finish all 8 Goddess' Towers.

And last, you must visit the five fairies around the world.

 

Zol, the All-Consuming is a super-boss who shifts weaknesses and shows you what is needed to win.

He's unlocked by obtaining all 10 Zol Fragments.

Defeating him isn't required to get the best ending.

I liked the idea of a relatively weak-looking enemy being able to clean your clock.

Having the option set to heal immediately is very helpful here.

Also, the 4th Sword Technique can work wonders when he chooses that weakness.

I made it where you can dig to make the fight a bit easier.

[ywkls]

Part 48

 

The 8 Goddess' Tower locations were chosen based on screens which you might not otherwise visit.

They don't have any real correspondence to the dungeons that are nearby.

This is also why the enemies inside aren't related to those areas.

 

I chose to make the difficulty finding them rather than adding lots of hard enemies or puzzles.

This is one of the reasons I haven't decided on how to give clues to their locations.

Hitting the switches at the top is what opens the chest in the Secret Corridor.

This also opens the door which permits progress.

 

If you look at the map of the Goddess' Towers, you can guess what to expect.

Each from left to right vertically, is a new level's mini-boss and boss.

Four are in the north overworld and four in the south.

 

Did you know? The raft maze is the area you're least likely to visit multiple times.

This is one reason that I placed a Goddess' Tower there.

There's also a secret room you can access after the quest's true ending there.

With the Peril Ring, your ability to survive increases significantly.

Edited by ywkls, 27 February 2022 - 12:36 PM.

[ywkls]

Part 49
 
Secret Corridor wasn't part of the original concept for the quest.
However, it was added along with the keeps.
The original version was two floors and very easy.
This never entirely satisfied me.
As a result, it was expanded to four floors.
 
Getting those scripted super bomb flowers to work right took a lot of effoirt.
Many bugs were discovered during the process.
It seems to mostly work now.
The setup made the whole dungeon more complicated, for sure,
The fact you can see the places they blow up before you can do anything about it can't help.
 
The Goddess' Ribbon went through various stages of development.
First, you could buy it.
Then it was the level 9 dungeon item. (Those were dark times.) 

Lastly, it was placed in this dungeon as we've seen.

 

The bomb flower mechanic didn't always have a timer.

And even now, it is a fairly generous one.

Some bomb flower placement is better than others,

I have never seen someone get stuck like that before.

My apologies for the forced reset.

It may not be obvious, but the bomb flower can be pulled through walls while being drawn by the boomerang.

I'm not entirely sure why you had some much trouble with it.

[ywkls]

Part 50

 

The ability to summon the bomb was actually a bug.

This version is harder, but how it is intended to work.

 

I wanted to try and do something I'd never done before.
I'd seen the pullable levers in Link's Awakening and Panoply of Calatia.

This version temporarily changes some combos so you can cross gaps.

 

A number of rooms in the dungeon used to have enemies.

These were removed because of bugs involving the bomb flower script.

There are a lot of rooms you can enter long before you can complete them.

This creates a lot of backtracking, as you can imagine.

 

The color torch puzzle is designed where they only stop on the right color.

This allows for some interesting design choices.

Also, I can't help but laugh at how you completely ignored the puzzle in the boss key room.

[ywkls]

Part 51

 

I may have to adjust a few of those rooms in the Secret Corridor.

It wasn't entirely tested for difficulty.

 

You should know that when you pick up the bomb, you can set it down again.

This is done by pressing the button for the boomerang again.

 

I think that the bomb flower actually got stuck in the wall one time.

I don't know why and apologize for any frustration that this may have caused.

 

This dungeon is definitely a trial for your patience and memory.

Having consistent troubles with the bomb flower mechanic can't help.

While not nearly as large as the Wind Fish's Egg, the constant backtracking can make it more confusing.

 

I had some issues with the bomb flower mechanic during the creation of the dungeon.

As a result, some areas didn't get tested as thoroughly as others,

This may have inevitably caused some balance issues.

As you guessed, the bomb flower drops to a corresponding room on the floor below.

 

Pits in rooms with levers drop you at the entrance.

This is to prevent infinite falling.

Your overall objective is to drop eight bombs to the bottom floor and destroy the eight elephant statues.

Doing so opens the way to the true final boss.

[ywkls]

Part 52

 

I do wish that I could modify the map script to show the bomb flower locations.

As a result of the way the dungeon is set up, you have to revisit a lot of areas that you've been to before,

Since you don't know where the bomb flowers are at any time, then this can lead to a lot of aimless wandering.

 

I think that having the warps may have made things harder than they needed to be.

There's a significant number of paths to areas on some floors which are hidden behind routes from different ones.

While I'm all for making my dungeons a nightmare of interconnected paths, the Secret Corridor is a whole more level.

I would say that the only place which comes close is the Temple of Time from Passage Through Time.

The Black Tower is close, though.

 

I do think that you finally get how the bomb flower mechanic is supposed to work in this part.

You seemed to have a lot less trouble moving them around this time.

Having a Song of Soaring spot in this dungeon is highly recommended.

Placing it correctly can make the difference in how long travel takes.

 

The system used to lock off the end is similar to how the dungeon itself is blocked.

Each pillar lowers one of the 8 barriers which block the way to the boss.

I actually ended up adding two locks because I had extra keys.

Also, I tried to have the pillars require dropping the bomb flowers from the very top floor.

This was accomplished in nearly every case.

[ywkls]

Part 53

 

That feeling where even reviewing footage isn't good enough to find your way...

Yeah, the Secret Corridor is definitely a thing.

I could have made it less labyrinthine.

But that's not the way I work.

 

Did you know? If you don't like to F6, use the Song of Soaring if no warp point is set!

When you enter the dungeon, the script is set to the entrance.

This allows you to easily return to the beginning.

 

When I came up with the idea for the Secret Corridor, I knew that I wanted a boss I hadn't used before.

Seeing as I'd already had her cameo in Destiny of the Oracles, making it Hilda felt like a good decision.

This is an evil, adult version of the character.

The gimmick with the boss is her weaknesses shift periodically.

Using the music notes on her reveals the way to do damage.

 

The only aspects of the quest which I feel might benefit from further fleshing out are the endings.

Right now, they feel kind of abrupt and incomplete.

Maybe I will get around to it someday.

 

There's a secret developer's room you could visit after the true ending.

It's deep in the raft maze and contains some brief commentary on its creation.