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[ywkls]

Destiny of the Oracles- Part 1
 
Part 2

 

So, here we are again with a new LP of this quest.

This is the third of what is now planned to be a series of 5 quests.

From the beginning, this was designed as one long story.

Starting in Holodrum, then moving to Hyrule; this chapter explores Labyrnna and a new Mirror World.

 

All of the Mirror World dungeons are negatively numbered.

This is to convey their alliance with evil.

The holes which populate Treetop Terrace are scripted.

There's not much I can do about their sensitivity.

 

It was during the creation of this quest that I came up with a plan for a new chapter.

This has been recently released as Remembrance of Shadows.

The finale to this series is currently under development.

 

Treetop Terrace was made with a lot of those secrets which are activated in the distance.

I also deliberately added the outside sections.

Another theme of the Mirror World dungeons is the fact that all the mini-bosses and bosses are former allies.

 

It should be noted that just about everything in this quest was scripted by me.

This includes the enemies, many new puzzles, the characters and their abilities along with the warping mechanic.

In fact, the philosophy when making it was script everything!

Many of the innovations created for this were added to Balance of Nature and Passage Through Time retroactively.

 

The Lost Fairy quest was originally inspired by the stray fairies from Majora's Mask.

There are ten in all scattered around the world.

You also started the Trading Sequence.

That girl in the building will randomly select any song in the quest.

 

A lot of effort was made to keep your strength on par with your progress through the quest.

Some areas worked better than others.

The entire idea behind the story is that Veran succeeded in her efforts to wipe Nayru from existence.

She only escapes due to being in Hyrule at the time.

 

Nayru's level 1 is inspired by the song which comes from TMNT.

It had the first use of many scripts that will become common in the quest.

One of them is the puzzles where you have to hit a bunch of moving targets to proceed.

Another is the turnstile from the Oracle games.

They retain their position until you restart from a save or continue.

 

I made the Seed Satchel a limited supply so I could have at least one item on Nayru's side which had ammo.

This allowed me to provide two capacity expansions.

 

From this point on, which path you choose is basically up to you,

The only exceptions are when opening paths to new areas.

 

[ywkls]

Part 3

 

The power of the turnstile caused it to be used in many other areas.

This one has to be the best, though.

Getting things to turn in just the right direction takes a bit of forethought.

 

Big chests are color-coded for your convenience.

Red are big keys, yellow are magic containers and orange are heart pieces.

 

The issue with continuing is caused by the scripted save system.

You are taken back to the last save point used by any character.

If you haven't used a save point yet, then it takes you back to the beginning.

 

The vulnerability of the Giant Chuchu to fire wasn't intended.

However, it seems fitting so I will leave it in.

 

Did you know? The item drops are scripted to change depending on what world you are in.

That way, Din and Nayru will each get the supplies they need.

 

Once upon a time the pits in the Treetop Terrace took you to the entrance of the room,

However, I reworked the script to drop you at the last solid point instead.

 

The characters you meet after the Mirror World dungeons are collectively known as the Sages of Darkness.

They're basically powerful enemies you don't fight elsewhere.

I should also mention that the animation when you acquire a MacGuffin is scripted.

 

The Lost Letters are a sidequest for Nayru.

This particular one was in a scripted chest, because reasons.

The Regen Tokens are exclusive to each character.

[ywkls]

Part 4

 

The Crystalline Altars were created as a way to validate the completion of that quest.

You can deliver an appropriate item to any altar.

Also, contrary to popular belief; Ganon is almost absent from this series.

By the way, each world is actually only 14 x 14 in size.

This is because that was the size of Labrynna in Oracle of Ages.

When I discovered this I decreased the size of both to match one another.

 

It isn't possible for you to use the blue keys on the wrong blue chests before you need them.

There are two which are required for progression.

The Strong Glove is one of those, which I why I conveniently placed someone to tell you about it.

 

The Diabolical Factory was where I first tried out my custom script for handling red/blue blocks.

As a result, I made the whole thing around it to increase its complexity.

I also decide to make the smokestacks sideview because I like those kinds of areas.

 

For those interested in the full back story of the quest series, I've posted my overall planned timeline here.

Some changes have been made along the way, of course.

And the final quest is probably going to be my most ambitious yet.

 

I forgot to mention that the big blue chests exist.

They provide important upgrades which you will want to ease your journey.

Each one requires the boss key of the dungeon it is in to obtain.

 

One the improvements this quest has received is the fact you retain the ability to use the Rod of Seasons without any MP.

This lets you cut grass or pots at any time to restore yourself.

[ywkls]

Part 5

 

The red/blue barriers reset when you load your game.

A feature I added to keep a player from cheating their way to some locations.

It does cause some inconvenience, of course.

 

I love how complex the Diabolical Factory ended up being.

Forcing the player to take basically the same routes several times to hit some switched to make progress just works out so well.

And naturally, things are only going to get more complicated from here on out.

 

The main reason for changing what switches are used for what items is because I alter what I use in each case.

Plus there's only a limited amount of objects to use.

 

The mini-boss is supposed to be Maple.

The sprites were from Spriter's Resource.

The seed shooter is actually a very powerful item.

It is the weakness of many enemies in the quest.

I increased the drop rate for various things to make sure running out was harder.

 

Each of the Fragments of Darkness has a different name,

I chose a word beginning with "S" which had an evil connotation.

 

I worked very hard to make all entrances and exits match up with one another.

It only makes sense to me.

 

The Gale Fruit was inspired by the Portal Sphere from Isle of Rebirth.

My version also lets your projectiles be carried to new locations.

The sprites had been updated since the quest was released a new, more snazzy form.

[ywkls]

Part 6

 

The Gale Fruit is made where you can have up to four active pairs of portals active at once.

The details of this are mostly boring scripting stuff.

The results are very satisfying, however.

These logic puzzles made sense to me when I wrote them, honest!

 

The Gale Fruit puzzles are some of my proudest creations.

Unfortunately I don't use them quite as often as I should.

But you can clearly see my intent.

The combination of the item and a push block puzzle worked very well, though I kind of hit it out of the park on my first try.

 

A lot of people overlook the key in the top half of the dungeon because they don't go back there after obtaining the item.

So, you're among good company.

I should note that if you're getting horribly lost here, things are only going to get much worse.

By the way, the death animation is scripted because of how the save system works.

It is made that way to override the built-in continue which might send you to the wrong location.

 

There's actually a faster route back after defeating the Crystalline Beast.

The south wall can be bombed, providing a permanent shortcut.

The altars can be completed in any order.

 

The Harp of Ages was one of my favorite additions to the quest.

There's even a script which shows both characters on the screen at once if you are in the same world.

It is activated automatically at certain spots.

 

The Farore memories are the last sidequest for Din.

Each must be done in order.

The reward is part of the post-game.

[ywkls]

Part 7

 

The order of the Crystalline Beast fights is entirely up to you.

That particular one was meant to be weak to the seed shooter.

If it touches you, the screen gets wavy.

It should be noted that there is usually an altar near to where you fight one of them.

 

The whistle warp spots are divided equally between both worlds.

There's even some sidequests which require them to be utilized.

Most of these are in locations that correspond to similar spots in Oracle of Ages.

All of the blue chests aren't required but most are useful.

 

There was a sidequest you didn't find in the Fairy's Woods. 

There's a lost Fairy on the south side of the maze.

Did you know? The Lost Fairy will leave you if you're killed outside of a dungeon.

So it is technically an escort quest.

 

The letter delivery north of Lynna City was delayed until after level 4 because of difficulty.

There are in fact 9 letters which require fights.

These enemies are known as the Masked Marauders.

 

The expensive item sold here is available cheaper much later.

It's entirely optional so whether you buy it is up to you.

You should go back and get that shield, though.

 

An attempt was made to keep the two maps as close as I could.

Where liberties have been taken, it was done for fairly specific reasons.

 

The raft is indeed the second required item from a blue chest.

I wanted to delay swimming as long as possible, considering what I had in mind for the southern half of the map.

[ywkls]

Part 8

 

Let it be known that after fiddling around with Din's level 3, I resolved never to try and get minecarts to working again.

I simply ran into too many small problems which could arise while using and setting them up.

Even the doors that automatically open and close sometimes wouldn't work right for mysterious reasons.

 

It should be noted that if you run out of bombs in the fight against Dimitri, more will drop from the ceiling.

I installed this feature just in case anyone ran into trouble with the mini-boss.

 

Those Hardhat Beetles were supposed to be in level 2, but I found them too difficult.

They were moved here and made weak to the seed shooter.

 

That pillar in level 3 messed up for reasons I've never been able to quite pin down.

Sometimes it works the first time and others it doesn't cooperate.

 

Nayru's level 3 design was all built around the idea of an ancient temple split by an earthquake.

One side remains flooded while the other is dry,

The dungeon brings back the path puzzles which I like so much.

I did tone them down slightly from the last quest and even more in the sequel.

That one block puzzle always tends to take a long time to solve and is hard mostly by accident.

Edited by ywkls, 25 January 2022 - 09:50 PM.

[ywkls]

Part 9

 

The fire arrows was one of the first upgrades I decided upon for the quest.

I sort of ran out of buttons to allow swiftly changing what weapon is equipped.

I should also note that your base attack gets slightly stronger every time you get one of these upgrades.

 

It was a natural decision to combine the Gale Fruit and path puzzles.

These can sometimes look harder than they really are.

 

I blame that Moosh fellow for all the issues with the mine carts.

I'm sure he's involved somehow. 

 

Raft hitbox detection is indeed wonky.

This is because it is the built-in item and thus all ZC's fault.

That one warp was previously hidden behind a gate that you opened from the right side of the dungeon.

The only clue was an onscreen message about hearing a noise off in the distance.

 

Did you know? Almost every single dungeon has unique foes that appear only there.

The exceptions are the post-game areas, which do repeat some from earlier areas.

 

Glad you finally learned how to open the large blue chests!

These always contain major upgrades, some of which are required.

[ywkls]

Part 10

 

The power of Summer's Heat changed during the creation of the quest.

Originally, it created two circling fires. However, I decided to change to twin fires that moved in a sine wave.

I also added more triggers for it after the quest was released, because a lot of people forgot to collect it.

Since watching this LP, I've also made signs in Din level 2 and Nayru level 3 explaining how to open the large blue chests.

 

Good job finding the Masked Thief!

Also, you were quite fortunate getting to the delivery spot so soon,

The Masked Salesman is based on the Vasu sprite from the Oracle series.

He throws rings at you, naturally.

 

Cleaning up side areas is definitely useful.

Certainly makes you more powerful for future encounters.

[ywkls]

Part 11

 

In case you were wondering, the armor upgrades are character specific.

This works by dungeon map shenanigans.

 

Now that I think about it, I don't believe that Din has any musical note triggers.

The one in Asymmetry City exists because of a bug with the warp spots I wasn't able to figure out.

The other one was always there.

 

When you swim, it isn't possible to cross those rocks.

The raft doesn't care, however.

I couldn't think of a better way to indicate raft paths than seaweed at the time.

 

This quest isn't quite as generous with rupees as previous ones.

There's also a lot more stuff to buy at high prices.

 

Some of the bosses which were made into Crystalline Beasts started life as script requests.

The Crystal Geldman was one of those.

The Crystal Rebonack was another.

 

The various Farore mini-games took a great deal of work, both on the story and execution side.

The digging mini-game is completely random.

The spot changes every time you play.

At least you don't have to watch the story each time.

They must be done in a specific order.

However, I added clues about the right order to each one.

 

Hiding things under stones is a favorite trick of mine.

I've since learned how to do this with a lot of other items as well.

[ywkls]

Part 12

 

Din's Level 4 is another 3d in 2d dungeon.

Each horizontal layer corresponds to a vertical floor.

Many of the warps go back to the start.

This is because it connects a lot of different areas.

 

Dodongos don't react quite normally to scripted bombs.

I'm not entirely sure why, but I didn't want to create my own just for that one room.

 

At least the moles aren't invulnerable all the time?

For a long time they were.

 

Once the item here was the Roc's Feather.

Then someone pointed out the obvious idea to change it.

And thus a legend was born.

The gaps are a bit finicky.

Sorry about that.

You can also go back for a yellow big chest in Din's Level 1 now.

At least I improved the pit script where you spawn on the last solid ground.

[ywkls]

Part 13

 

Sorry for the trouble with Din's level 4.

I can probably add a way to make that area a one-time event in the future.

At least by doing so, I can keep anyone else from having to endure that frustration.

 

Somehow that first combined path and Gale Fruit puzzle worked out just as intended.

I am not entirely sure how, but I take what I can.

 

Nayru's level 4 introduces a mechanic which I use profusely in the sequel to this.

It allows me to have one-time events that I can turn on and off at will.

That is what controls the barriers by the boss as well.

I call the general layout a dungeon inside of a dungeon, since the rooms often have two paths that aren't really connected to one another.

 

Fun fact: the switchhook diamonds didn't always return to their proper place when you left the room and return.

Moosh helped me figure out a way to do that so that was nice.

I couldn't exactly figure out how to make it switch places with enemies, sadly.

Beside, I knew that there were some foes which would have issues with that.

 

The star tile puzzles involve instantly triggered secrets.

If you step on them, an obstacle blocks your path,

 

You encountered the rare Gale Fruit glitch.

The exact causes of this bug are unknown.

At least it doesn't seem to prevent progress.

 

While a reference to Hal 2000 wasn't intended, I do find it to be hilarious.

The boss showcases a problem I still haven't quite found a way to solve with my boss design.

I love the dash attack but my foes tend to get stuck repeating the routine and nothing else.

[ywkls]

Part 14

 

Oh, wow. I have never seen anything like this before.

I'm glad I fixed that. Sorry to put you through this.

Hopefully no other person will have to do so again.

I always use a keyboard myself so I've never encountered controller problems.

My profound apologies. I must reluctantly report that the sequel has somewhat worse platforming.

 

Farore was one of the trickiest bosses by design.

Her attacks influenced many later foes.

 

The design of the Epona mini-game was supposed to emulate a shoot-em-up.

Inspired by Zodiac, story of the Guardian.

 

There are a total of 14 Magic Containers in the quest.

They're spread out over both worlds.

 

Getting all of the Crystalline Flames does have another purpose.

If you don't know what it is already, I won't spoil the surprise.

The Clue Revealer is used for sidequest completion.

It shows clues on the subscreen.

It also reveals clues in 2 locations in each world.

 

The Masked Bowwow has a strange bug associated with it.

If you die while in the room, you spawn inside the room.

To prevent this, the quest spawns Ember Seeds if you run out.

[ywkls]

Part 15

 

Good job on the giant crab!

These Crystalline Beasts get harder as you progress through the quest.

The Crystalline Wall Master can't grab you. 

Though, that's mostly because I couldn't figure out how.

You walked right past an altar in the snowy region.

 

That mini-game was indeed intended to be a version of Space Invaders.

It was made to be capable of being defeated in a short period of time.

 

You can actually jump that gap on Crescent Isle.

However, you can't do anything there yet.

 

The expensive item in the cave increases the rate of arrow fire.

Like the Clue Revealer, it's completely optional.

 

I had to throw in the Amy Rose cameo.

I tested the 3rd game in that series during the making of this quest.

Hammer is a good guess. Not a correct one, though

[ywkls]

Part 16

 

Welcome to the first of the two-floor dungeons!

This is an over-under design, which you might recognize as a trademark of mine.

The location is supposed to be an expanded Moblin's Fort.

Though it has two entrances, one isn't used much.

The design of the whole place is pretty non-linear to an extent with lots of paths for multiple keys to reach your goal.

 

That yellow star in the switchhook puzzle exists because of a bug.

It was possible to get to the chest without triggering the secret.

This fixes the issue.

There's a similar story behind blocking the Gale Fruit spots in that one block puzzle.

You could solve the puzzle and then get stuck in the middle.

 

The Master Boomerang was my version of the ZC standard of a projectile you can guide in flight.

It wasn't quite as good as I intended.

 

I'm not entirely sure why there were no shadows for the Skulltulas in that one room.

There's no logical reason for that to take place.

 

That one puzzle with the warp you didn't use is meant to trick you into thinking it is needed.

I liked the idea of fooling the player into believing the puzzle is harder than it seems.

Also, I'm not certain if that room with the vines needs a clue.

Then again, it is the only puzzle like that in the quest.

 

I really like how Kalle Demos worked out.

Making the vines weak to the boomerang just made so much sense to me.

The sheer size of the boss makes it all the more intimidating.