I'm sure many of you are familiar with the Nth quests; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. They're the quests prepackaged into ZC, the ones that automatically load one after the other when you beat each one, etc. They're the quests that often serve as a first introduction to ZC, and some have even taken to doing all of them as some sort of challenge. Heck, there's even the current 6th quest contest going on.
As such, I'm sure you're also familiar with the infamous 3rd quest. Brutally difficult, and a massive jump in difficulty compared to both the previous and the latter quests. This 3rd quest has been seen as a stain on the otherwise alright Nth quests, to the point where there's even an ability to skip it should you 100% 2nd quest. In fact, some sources say it's not even the original 3rd quest as submit to the original contest, but rather a version modified by the hosts to be even harder than it's original form.
While this is the most infamous example, it's not the only problematic Nth quest. The 4th quest as we know it is also in a weird position, as it is actually the fusion of the two winning quests in the 4th quest contest; HeroOfFire's, and QuestWizard's; the overworld of one and the dungeons of another, resulting in a linear quest with little replayability that one of the authors even explicitly dislikes.
Finally, there's the 5th quest. This one is a weird one. BigJoe won the contest, but most people feel as though Shoelace was unfairly disqualified due to the judge's NES-preferences and had he made it to the finals, that he would have won. However, to give Shoelace the win at this point would invalidate BigJoe's victory, and BigJoe's quest itself isn't a bad quest.
In fact, despite these problems, there are likely some who might enjoy these quests in spite of their problems; and on that note, it could be considered poor form to just discard them. However, these problems still exist, and surely there must be something that could be done about it. Hence, this topic. Hopefully some good discussion can come from just discussing this, and perhaps solutions could be proposed and the like (or people could just say to continue on with how it currently is).
As for what I'd propose: ZC 2.53 now has the ability to create "modules", which allow for, among other things, having different "Nth Quests" for each part. For example, one could make a module that starts with Hitodama as 1st, Yuurei as 2nd, and Reikon as 3rd, or etc. What I propose, is that the current Nth quests be packaged as a "challenge" or "classic" module, where people who wish to go through a more challenge-oriented progression can select that module and play through the quests that way. Ideally, 4th quest could also be changed to be QuestWizard's original 4th quest entry. Then, the "default" module would be changed to have Shoelae's, HeroOfFire's, and one other quest.
Obviously, my solution might not be perfect, I'm sure there's other good ones too! So what do you all think, and how should this be handled?
Edited by Dimentio, 15 February 2020 - 03:07 AM.