12 replies to this topic

[Talq]

Okay dokey.. so, yeah. hi =D

I'm going to be doing some various reviews and such.. kk thnx.
if you want something reviewed just get into contact with me somehow.. I assume you're all big kids so you know the time consuming art of "how to stalk" to get someone's attention so yeah

About Me:
I am a gamer, pretty old, pretty perceptive when it comes to game mechanics, and pretty ingenious at times when trying to break said mechanics.
also, Man am I pretty


What I like:
Cheese, Girls, and Sophistication. but enough about that, in zelda I really like classical things. I prefer quests that are homage to zelda roots and can tie into the games they originated from effortlessly. For example, if a zelda 1 quest seems like it could have been straight out ripped from zelda 1, then it will probably get a better review from me than one that, say, has shiny rainbow ponycorns everywhere.
(a ponycorn is a hybrid pony and unicron, I hate them both)
That being said, I DO like it when people are outrageous and daring at times to make interesting areas and unique features. Do not hold back. =)

Rating System:
My rating system will be split up into different catagories, as I don't think any one rating can ever fully explain a game, and any reviewers that don't agree with such a statement should instantly feel shame for their craft. I will be dividing the scoring up into the following catagories:

Graphics: -/10
Sound: -/10
Music: -/10
(Overall): -/30

Map: -/10
Design: -/10
Difficulty: -/10
(Mechanics): -/30

Story: -/10
Immersion: -/20
Replayability: -/10
(Plot): -/40

now then, allow me to explain:
Graphics, depending on whether they look good or destroy my pupils. Pretty simple, If I can tell it looks like a green bush, success, if it looks like a flashing red 'thing' that I can't identify, that will bring your score down.
Sound and Music, also pretty basic. I have no issues with replacing the sounds for items/attacks/roars etc but if you do something stupid like replace everything with farts then you probably will get a very low score for sound. As for music, as long as it fits the area theme, then I generally will give a high music score unless it's too loud/soft constantly.
Overall will be the sum of the total scores of that section. combined with the mechanics score and plot score will come up with the MadZone score, which conveniently, will be out of 100.

Map is scored based on how well the overworld map and dungeon layouts are. if a good deal of the map is simply offscreen or hidden or even worse, if it only has 2-3 walkable blocks on the screen, then you probably won't get a high score. Likewise, if you do not have alot on each map to give the player direction, you will also suffer penalties.
Design is slightly different from maps, in that it is the score of how your game functions and reacts to itself. That is to say, if you have a water zone that links directly to a volcano, that won't make any sense and you will lose alot of points for it. If you are building an undead dungeon, and suddenly have it change to ice in the last 3 rooms because the boss is an ice monster, that would be another example of bad design.
Difficulty, as a score will be handled very carefully. Personally I like hard quests, however I realize the normal person does not like them. I will judge this rating based off how much grinding is needed and how much I feel that the game itself is too Easy/Hard. If I feel the game is too easy/hard then this rating will go down.

Story, well, this topic isn't really my strong point, so as long as it sounds feasible, I'll probably give everyone a 10 (as long as they have SOME sort of story). The original quest is "link goes to get triforce pieces to save zelda", if you're too lazy to even type that, you don't deserve a rating in this category.
Immersion, in my opinion, is one of the most important aspects of any good zelda quest. You WANT the player to play the game, and if the player cannot get into it, then you have failed. broken sprites, mislabeled text, errors, typos, bad warps, all of these things should be perfect by release and as such, anything that takes my mind off of my next goal in the game will lower this score.
Replayability, okay, now I know what you're thinking (but I've alreaaddy completed the game why would I play it again?) well it's simple. A good deal of games, including zelda 1, have an enormous replayability simply because they are a fun game with their mechanics. custom quests should be no different. zelda as a game is already massively replayable, so if your quest makes it "less" replayable, then obviously you have screwed up in some aspect and need to go back to the drawing board.


Right then. The 1st post will not have any reviews in it. I will be saving that for updates and such.
The 2nd post shall be reserved for links to the specific pages I review quests on.
the 3rd post shall be reserved for my first review.


and yeah, I have never really been one for tons of dramatics when it comes to posting. It's not like I can't do it, I just don't see the need so I will be clean, cut, and to the point with the reviews. I'll probably include screenshots as well, unless the authors ask otherwise. Expect the 1st review to be sometime this week! (I'll be getting started on a quest that shall remain nameless tonight )

[Talq]

Right then, Time to spin the thing.

Overall - Mechanics - Plot


- God of Power -
48
23 - 8 - 17
Full Review Here

- Dungeon Link -
73
24 - 22 - 27
Full Review Here

- My First Quest -
69
23 - 26 - 20
Full Review Here

Edited by Talq, 21 October 2012 - 07:44 PM.

[SofaKing]

Before you start reviewing, just to get a feel for your preferences, I'd be curious to know what some of your favorite quests are.

[Evan20000]

Heya Talq, welcome to PureZC!

I noticed you had 2 reserved posts, and while I see that a review thread can potentially get large, it's unlikely you'll need both of them (the character limit is quite large). If in the future your reviews do get to be massive, I'd suggest using a Table of Contents system like the one used here.

Again, welcome and enjoy your stay! ^^

[Talq]

Heya Talq, welcome to PureZC!

I noticed you had 2 reserved posts, and while I see that a review thread can potentially get large, it's unlikely you'll need both of them (the character limit is quite large). If in the future your reviews do get to be massive, I'd suggest using a Table of Contents system like the one used here.

Again, welcome and enjoy your stay! ^^

I actually had planned to use my 2nd reserved post AS the table of contents... well, for links anyways..
the 3rd post was just going to be reserved for my first review and nothing else... bleh.. whatever.

@ferentz: In all honesty, I've not played too many zquests, a handful at best, but I will say this. I prefer hard but fair quests. If a quest just randomly hides things in a wall LIKE A CERTAIN PERSON I KNOW THAT IS GOING TO BE READING THIS AT SOME POINT then I will probably not like it as much. However, if at some point the game hints at it, then that would be fine.

as far as favorite.. well.. although most people will hate me for saying this, I'd have to say twitch tv invasion lunatic. It was very fun for me as it really ramped up the difficulty of the original quest and had better area separations/themes, and the end boss was just crazy but fit very well with the theme/music.
(just a warning, do not play the lunatic version first, you will be eternally lost if you don't play the normal version before it.)

that being said, I don't mind easy quests either. If it can keep me entertained till the very end, It'll be on my + list

[Talq]

Mad Review #1: God of Power

Quest can be found Here.

Okey dokey, so, this quest, let's start it off by naming things we know first off from the review section.
1. It has 4 out of 5 stars.
2. It has an entire help thread about it.
3. It was made by a member that still visits the forums.
4. Nobody ever checks their messages
and lastly 5. The pictures are a lie.

Madzone Scorecard!
48
Overall: 23/30
Mechanics: 8/30
Plot: 17/40

I honestly had high hopes for this quest going in, but they were thoroughly dashed and repeatably stomped on before I even reached the first dungeon. Let's take a trip down memory lane and point out a few things NOT to do in a zelda quest.

Yes, That's right, Tiny rooms. This quest is LOADED with small spaces, narrow passages and obscenely tiny rooms with no where to move. I don't know if the creator was thinking "small rooms = harder quest" but if that was it's purpose, then let me tell you IT DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT! Hard quests are not defined simply by the amount of space you give them. Honestly, all in all, I have found this quest to be very easy, as far as quests go, however, it was also EXTREMELY annoying. Often in this quest I found myself just sitting in one spot trying to figure out what item I needed to use and where I needed to use it simply to advance. The monsters were weak, even the darknuts early game were fairly simple. I can see how a newbie would find this hard, however, for an experienced player this quest will just be bothersome as there are so many "secrets" of how to advance the game. one of the most annoying levels IMO, was level 2. In this level you had to somehow miraculously 'guess' that you have to

Spoiler

bomb a door

in order to advance the dungeon. I mean COME ON! I'm sure that idea was taken by link's awakening, but there were absolutely no hints whatsoever about it in the entire game up to that point.

I will admit though, this review 'may' be somewhat biased as I have not completed the game yet (believe me, I really really really did want to). The reason being is simply because I cannot even get into level 4. After level 3 you have to do a couple of strange/weird stuff to even get to the entrance, but one thing.. level 4 is locked! so you have to find the key. I am pretty sure I know where it is, and I am pretty sure I know which path to take to get it, however, I am getting a glitch with 2.5 that is preventing me from getting up on land, which in turn, is preventing me from getting the key. fun eh? As such, most of this review will be based off of what I have played already in the 3+ levels I've seen.


Graphics: 7/10
The graphics in this game were fairly good, however, there were times where I couldn't tell wtf an item was or how the ground actually fit together (I'm looking at you level 2!). As such, the graphics were adequate enough. see above pic for example of one of the good rooms. PS. what the heck was that glowing white acorn thing on that one tree? It looked completely out of place and I still don't know what it is.
Sound: 8/10
No sound, as to my knowledge, was changed other than maybe a boss roar. If it was changed then I didn't even notice so this gets a solid zelda-1 styled 8.
Music: 8/10
The music in this game started off seemingly random, but after listening to the various songs, they seemed to fit decently enough. the desert reeked of cowboys and as per every maze, geno's woods covered the lost forest. More or less, the music was pretty decent. and gets a solid zelda-1 styled 8.
(Overall): 23/30



Map: 0/10
What map? no seriously, what map? This game plays more or less like a 2D adventure game with it's story/advancement so the concept of a map is pretty null at this point. On top of that, the layouts for most of the dungeons were just horrible. Nearly every dungeon had some secret path that you were required to find, and often most of the screens only had 1/2 of the area as a walkable area as seen in the picture above. The pathways were very strict and did not have have any real variation for exploration.
Design: 5/10
Okay, now here's where it really gets strange. Apparently from what I can understand, each section in this game is protected by a "wall" which means that things like "forests" can connect to "deserts" effortlessly. Granted, I'm not talking about the lost woods but a certain village after the desert. I'm assuming it was probably something like "the monsters are creating the desert" or something which could make sense, but other things in this quest just seem 'off'. A prime example in the sky tower is when the game makes the less than subtle transition from 2D top down view, to 2D side view. another example is on the path to the desert where link

Spoiler

SOMEHOW requires a ladder to cross a hole in the.. wall?

Difficulty: 3/10
This game is classified as a "hard" quest yes? yet the only difficulty I see in it are annoying advancement puzzles. There's not really much difficulty in the game itself, unless I guess you're a newbie and don't know how to deal with darknuts. That reason, and that reason alone is why this is even getting a 3.
(Mechanics): 8/30

Story: 9/10
What sets this game apart in style and grace, it makes up for with it's story design. Most zelda quests are pretty simple, go find the 8 Triforce pieces and beat ganondork up to win a stuffed princess doll. Well.. this quest is a tad different. Apparently link was depressed*(?) as heck and had nothing going for him, so he heard about a princess and decided "what the heck, lets go save her". not much of a story but, still it's better than nothing. throughout the game you revisit multiple npcs many times as they attempt to unfold their "story" to you throughout the game. Cut-scenes included. The reason this did not get a 10 out of 10 was mostly because some of the story simply did not add anything to the action game. Dialogue seemed "off" at some parts and other parts it just seemed like more could have been done.
Immersion: 6/20
Gonna be completely honest. This game did not immerse me at all. because of my experiences early game with hidden rooms and narrow passageways, I had come to the concept that ALL of this game had similar tactics... which is why I probably did so well on level 3. However, always looking out for areas the game "might" be hiding is pretty counteractive of trying to be immersed by the game. At least, it is for me.
Replay-ability: 2/10
What? This has a replay-ability score!?!. well, yes, it does. The reason this has such a score is simply because you are really only allowed to go through a dungeon once (from what I've seen). Meaning, if you wanted to try and 100% this or get all of the items, you would probably need to play it a couple times to find them all.
(Plot): 17/40


The Run Down:
If you want a quest that is cryptic as hell on how to advance the game, then this quest is for you. If you just want a fun quest where you don't have to test every little thing to see if it activates a trigger, then you should probably steer clear from this one. There's a reason it has it's own help thread after all. The puzzles in the game are few and often gimmicky, you will have a much much harder time trying to FIND the way to go more than you will trying to open the way. (unless of course it's level 2). One of the things that I found most annoying about this quest is how often the creator did not line up, or possibly more specific, how he intentionally unaligned exits and puzzles.

I really did want to play through all of this game, but I honestly cannot see how any more of the same will change my opinion about it at this point. Even if this quest took a sudden 180 at level 4, it would not raise too many points simply because of how horrible the start was. All in all, I give the creator props for trying to involve a progressive story into the fray, but it just wasn't enough to carry this quest.

PS. sorry about the lack of screenshots, next quest I will take more as I go.

[Ventus]

Great review Talq! I like you style of reviewing. I enjoyed reading it. Keep'em coming Talq! I sure do enjoy a good review!

[vravelo]

mmm...! this review is accurate somewhat ! still remember this quest and my irritation with some rooms

[Talq]

Mad Review #2: Dungeon Link

Quest can be found Here.

Alrighty, so, I've been kinda absent from this thread since it's creation, but all that time wasn't wasted. I managed to snag some time every week, even if it was just a couple minutes playing this nice lil zquest known as "dungeon link". I honestly wanted to do more reviews faster but things just didn't turn out that way ...
anyways, regardless of how fast I pump these bad boys out I will continue to submit my reviews of zquests as I pound through them. This week on the chopping block is the immemorial "Dungeon Link"

Madzone Scorecard!
73
Overall: 24/30
Mechanics: 22/30
Plot: 27/40

Starting off, Dungeon Link, a nifty little title with just enough zing to grab my attention. The game starts you out in a forest... yes.. that's right.. a quest called "DUNGEON" link starts you out in a forest. Well truthfully it was all just a ruse. The forest zone is actually the storyline area and there are very little chances to actually screw things up yet. The story goes like this, Link is sitting in his home or something and he hears commotion outside, going out he finds a dying man who gives him the task of seeking out the 4 triforce pieces he hid in the forest from ganon. The guy then promptly dies leaving behind only his sword and a puddle of his own juices. The forest zone is a very short area and all 4 triforce pieces are easy to find.


The REAL game however begins after this amusingly strange little quest. As you approach the main gates the game goes into cutscene mode (yes, that's right, cutscene mode) and has some nifty little plot advancements. At this point the game is in complete free for all mode and gives you no real direction. The game itself is made up of 4 dungeons and 1 "end" dungeon, however, these dungeons are FRIGGIN HUGE! Each dungeon consists of about 3 floors and each can be completed by itself. The real trouble with this quest is knowing when you've done enough in any single dungeon. As you advance further into each dungeon, the monsters and traps grow significantly harder. How hard is hard you say? well, this quest has cracktorocks and death knights... yeah...

This quest also differs from the base ideology of most zelda games in a very radical way as well. To understand it you really have to focus on the concept that you are not trying to "beat" the dungeon, but rather, you are trying to "complete" the dungeon. The dungeons themselves have roughly 2-3 items in each of them and a varied amount of hearts and heart pieces as well. This may not seem like alot at first, but combine it with zero direction, multiple paths, confusing puzzles, and timed events and you have one heck of a beast to tackle. Now imagine all of this, and multiply it by four. I often found myself at a loss when playing this quest, feeling like I had barely advanced at all or completed anything after playing it for hours on end and still at the end of the night only having 3 or 4 hearts. This quest is a very daunting one and should not be taken lightly. Your main goal in this game really is to seek out as many hearts and items as you can possibly snatch up. This can be rather irritating at times however as you often do not have enough power in the early game to continue certain dungeons without a fairly large difficulty curve against you.


Speaking of which, one of the main features of this quest is possibly one of the most annoying and entertaining ones as well. For anyone that's played, they know I'm talking about the Save Feature. This game employs a very tricky and exciting way of saving imo. Basically you are only allowed to save at reserved points in the game. Exit saving, and all forms of "skipping" have been utterly removed. What this means is that not only are you forced to play the game straight up, but it also means that every time you go out into the dungeon it feels more like you are diving deep into the unknown and the only way to make sure you win is to come back alive. I mean, sure, anyone can run down 3 levels, grab the boomerang, and quit exit, but a true gamer will get the boomerang and return back up the stairs bleeding from his 1 heart pieces leftover and still have the urge to go back down into the frenzy. I believe it's in this aspect that this quest reminds me so much of a dungeon crawler, kinda makes sense now why it's called "dungeon link".

All in all I would recommend everyone play this quest at least twice, even if you do not favor it the first time, it might just hookshot you the 2nd.


Graphics: 10/10
The graphics in this quest were quite superb. Out of all of the quests I've seen I have honestly never seen such attention to detail before. It seemed like the creator of this quest went over every single room with a fine toothed comb and set every single tile up individually, along with each under combo. The best part of this quest in my opinion was the under combo that looked like the tile floors had been scraped after moving a block over them. That is why this quest gets a 10/10 for graphics.
Sound: 8/10
The sound for this quest was pretty basic, not much new, not much old. Really when it comes down to it, 8 will probably be the maximum for sound that I give any review... the sound would really really have to wow me to get any higher in this category.
Music: 6/10
Although I thought this quest was simply amazing.. It did not, however, do too well on the music scale. This game's music selection was pretty basic as far as songs go, and some songs felt a tad out of place at times.. on top of that the overworld music was SO DAM LOUD!!!
It could have been better with it's song selection.
(Overall): 24/30



Map: 7/10
Map... tch yeah like you'd ever find it. Seriously though, this quest is both great and HORRIBLE with this aspect. The maps of this quest are beautifully designed, and yet, it's so confusing that you will often be extremely lost 70% of the time. On top of that, the compass and map items are very heavily hidden and hard to find. I've only found 1 of the maps in the game myself and I've already beaten it with EVERY other item/heart. The layouts are pretty good however, as even the tight rooms with not much space don't feel like tight rooms.
Design: 9/10
The design of this quest was quite impeccable. Often I found myself liking this quest more and more simply for it's design. A prime example is in the sewer level.. it "connected" to every other level by going up stairs, giving the feel that it was one giant structure. The levels themselves also had very nice design.. frogs and slimes in a sewer filled with water and drains as an example. The main bosses also fit to their level's design quite well. The one beef I have with this is that the bosses felt a tad lackluster. Especially the final end boss.
Difficulty: 6/10
This game is very daunting... but I feel that it was made more difficult than it needed to be. The save feature alone was enough to make this a "hard" quest, but on top of that they had a great many timed rooms early on, as well as hard boomerang shots and low hp. What really made this rather ridiculous for difficulty however was the increase of hearts required to get the white sword and the acquisition of items to get the blue/red rings. This modified level of difficulty is why the quest did not do better in this ranking.
(Mechanics): 22/30


Story: 9/10
Story Time! Story Time!
So a dead guy walks into a forest.. oh have you heard this one before? But seriously, this is the idea behind this quest. you are link minding your own business and you find a guy dying. the story really picks up when you get to the castle area and get some nice cut-scenes to fill you in on what you have to do... unfortunately.. that's about all the story there is. after that point you get shafted big time on any/all storyline. That's fine though, link can create his own story.. however, I think they could have done a lot more at the end of each main boss or if just a little bit, at the end with the true final boss.
Immersion: 14/20
I honestly had a love/hate relationship with this game. Nearly every time I went into the Overworld the immersion was completely broken by the loud music, however, when I was in the dungeons it was "game on" mode for me and hours passed like minutes. This quest was beautifully designed as I've said before, and you'll find it hard to find any flaws.. at least, I have found none. The biggest break from immersion, as I've said, is the Overworld, which unfortunately you have to cross to get to the other dungeons from time to time.
Replay-ability: 4/10
"Wait, this is a good game, why does it have a replay of 4??!?", well, to be honest, it's just not that replayable to me. This quest IS a fun quest, but it feels more like an accomplishment quest than an enjoyment quest. When you beat this game you are guranteed to have all the items and pretty much nearly all the heart pieces so the only thing you could miss are small things like sword slash or the master sword. That being said, pretty much every room is used, so you won't miss much...
Ontop of that, there really aren't any optional dungeons and very small optional areas.
(Plot): 27/40


The Run Down:
If you want a quest that is extremely large, puzzling, and vague then this is your type of quest, but beware the save feature. I do not see everyone enjoying this quest simply because of the way it is setup, however, I don't believe that takes away from the experience that this quest offers. For all those that prefer hard challenges, this quest will respond and offer it's own unique challenge. For casual questers I still suggest trying this quest twice, even if you don't enjoy it, you can at least enjoy it's style and differences from normally designed quests.

I have fully completed this quest and beaten it.
Also one last thing.. These 8-way whirlwind wizrobes are bitches

[trudatman]

I like your reviewing style, your attention to detail and your ability to communicate your thoughts. I hope to see any of my works ravaged in this thread. thanks for doing what you do!

[Ventus]

Good review. I enjoyed it pretty much thank you! I might have to give this quest a try. it looks quite interesting

[Talq]

Mad Review #3: My First Quest

Quest can be found Here.

Not stopping now! Here we go! Round 3! FIGHT!
This time around I decided to step back and reformat my placement by picking a quest that was not getting many stars or much attention.
This quest was titled "My First Quest" so I grit my teeth and braced myself as I clicked the download button. What I found however was something pretty neat.
When this quest was originally picked it had 2 or 3 stars, I honestly don't remember which, but since it has risen to 4 stars.

Madzone Scorecard!
69
Overall: 23/30
Mechanics: 26/30
Plot: 20/40

Now, as I've said in the preview review, this quest is titled as "My First Quest" so going into this I did not expect much at all. Errors, missing secrets, misplaced tiles.. these were some of the things I had expected going in, however, the missing parts were far and few in this quest. Granted, this quest DOES have missing secrets, and some of them will hinder your game, however, they are not vital. For instance, it was in dungeon 3 (I think?) where there was supposed to be a key secret, yet only a gray patch appeared. Not too harmful since this quest is nice enough to include key shops. Honestly, when it comes down to it, as a reviewer my job is to pick apart quests and find things I don't like about them.. but.. this quest did not have much I did not like. Sure it was simplistic and did not venture outside of the Zelda 1 universe, but is that really a bad thing? The main story of this game is to find Ganon, kill him, save the princess.. yadda yadda yadda.. unfortunately, THAT is where this quest fails. The creator honestly did not even try to hide the fact that the player has been through this storyline before. The first text in the game is "here's the sword, you know what to do". This alone waves HUGE red blinking flags all over my BS radar, and no I'm not talking about BS Zelda. On top of that, some of the text felt slightly lacking throughout the game. Granted there was not much text at all as it followed Zelda 1's style to a T.


Another thing that I found particularly annoying, or rather, just plain strange was his unyielding obsession towards the warp whistle. This quest could quite literally be drawn down the middle with the puzzles of "what needs the whistle" and "what doesn't".
The whistle was used SO much in this game, I have to wonder if the guy actually has a whistle fetish. Okay okay, maybe you don't believe me, or perhaps you don't understand.. well that's fine, here's a fun example. In the first level you get the whistle, you have to use it approximately 3-5 times to complete the dungeon.. then you have to use it about 3-6 more times on the overworld.. and that's not counting the multitude of secrets. In nearly every dungeon after the whistle, he used the whistle for "go back" warps as well.. and any room that has parallel line blocker blocks, you can sure as heck bet a whistle does something there. It got to the point in this play-through that I honestly was using the whistle on EVERY SINGLE SCREEN just because that was the most logical outcome. I have honestly never had the whistle equipped in my B slot more than with this quest... I feel dirty.


All in all though, despite his whistle fetish and the lack of some good back story/text.. this was a pretty solid quest that had no distinguishable flaws or features. It plays a lot like Zelda 1, with various parts of the map being "inaccessible" until you either learn the combinations or get an item. It would honestly be easier to describe this quest with the differences of this and the original Zelda 1 quest than to list this quests' features. With that being said, here we go. One of the most prominent differences is the trickery that this game has over Zelda 1. For example, there are several secrets that you would have to use a different item instead of what you would normally think of using. This quest also utilizes raft paths in small amounts, as well as burnable pathways.


The difficulty of this quest is fairly simple as well. I had absolutely no trouble beating this game with the blue ring and magical sword. I never did find the red ring but it was completely un-needed. Aside from the last level's obscene abuse of red bubbles, this quest is fairly balanced as far as power rankings go and I have not seen anything too difficulty or too easy in it. If you don't like using potions, this quest may be tough for you as you DO have to kill wizzrobes in rooms with bubbles, and I have not seen a single bomb-upgrade in the entire game.

One bit of "moderated" difficulty I did not like was that some of the secrets did not work properly and that the design was a little bit flaky in some dungeons. A prime example of this was that in 2 different dungeons, I had to leave them in order to progress into them because I ran out of keys. One dungeon had 2 keys locked behind one door, meaning if you unlocked the OTHER door first, you were guaranteed to leave as you would not have enough keys to beat the dungeon. The other dungeon I got 'key-screwed' on, was dungeon 5 I believe, where a secret wasn't set properly and it caused me to not get a key I desperately needed.


Graphics: 8/10
This quest followed zelda 1 graphics pretty close and had a lot of similar landscaping to the original. but then again nothing really stood out just the same. If you want a zelda 1 remake, this might be your style of quest.
Sound: 8/10
Zelda 1 sounds like zelda 1.. even down to that annoying beep... lol.
Music: 7/10
By now you probably all realize that I'm basing normal scoring as 8/10, as such most quests that aren't super amazing will still get high scores if they stick to the basics.. well.. this one felt a little off. I can't put my finger on it, maybe it's just zclassic, but this quest felt like the music was off somehow. not by much but for some reason it felt like it was using remixed versions of the classic with some notes/instruments turned off. I'm not sure what it was that bothered me so much but the music just drove me nuts for some reason. Like I said though, it uses all of the basic Z1 music track.
(Overall): 23/30


Map: 9/10
Okay okay, let me explain. I know some of you may not understand why this gets a 9 out of 10 but stop and think about it for a moment. Sure this quest is pretty vague and doesn't tell you much about where to go, but it does have some hints for those who get lost along the way, and that is honestly not that far off from what the original zelda also gave us. Wandering around the overworld trying to find levels 1, 2, & 7, that's part of the entertainment of the zelda franchise! The dungeons in this were honestly not that hard to find, and there were even some hints along the way. Ontop of that, aside from a few dungeons here and there, the maps in each level were actually very helpful for revealing "secret" rooms.

Spoiler

psst, btw, if you are trying to figure out the dungeon maps, you can just look at your number keys =p

Design: 8/10
The design of this was actually pretty good overall.. buuutt... some secrets and combinations I just did not like at all. A prime example would be 2 darknut statues guarding a wall that has NOTHING in it. It seemed a bit flaky at times at where secrets should have been or where they were originally planned to be. This quest had the perfect amount of puzzles and combat however, and as such had a very very good design.
Difficulty: 9/10
what!?!? 9 out of 10 again!?!?!? yes. definitely. This quest was not hard at all. and it really was not meant to be. From what I can gather, even if it was not this guy's first quest, it was still titled "my first quest" meaning that it was to be a very simplistic quest designed to be a first quest, and it nailed that on the head. The reason (AND ONLY REASON) this did not get a 10/10 for difficulty is the last level. For whatever known reason, the creator decided to be a complete jerk on the last level and put wizrobes and like-likes alongside red bubbles for the final level, which was super irritating and seemed obscenely difficult.
(Mechanics): 26/30


Story: 4/10
Honestly, the story of this is pretty much zelda 1. The thing is, the story in this is completely lacking/not there.. and he doesn't attempt to hide that either. This lack of caring altogether made me cringe.. I mean, honestly, if you can put in a line of text to tell the player a secret, why the hell can't you take the 5 seconds to actually think up something for the main plot to say that doesn't break the 4th wall? "to start the quest go east" NO!~ to start the quest, go to the fridge and eat a sammich then come back with a better piece of plot!
Immersion: 10/20
Immersion-wise, this game was pretty stable. It didn't have anything that sucked me in, but didn't really push me away either so it was fairly decent. some bad secrets and undercombos are what really brang this score down. I'd rate this amongst the handheld zeldas for it's immersion, as it won't really sucker you in like OoT, but it will still be enough to distract you for at least a couple seconds.
Replay-ability: 6/10
Honestly, this quest could be replayed some time in the future. It has the necessary elements, that being somewhat open ended and a pretty nice layout. Ontop of that, the secrets are fairly easily forgettable, and overall, it's a pretty easy/quick quest. I never did find that red ring.. if it exists..
If the creator ever fixes the errors/missing secrets for this quest this score would probably raise to 7.. if he made a 2nd quest for it It'd probably raise to 9
(Plot): 20/40


The Run Down:
This quest was MADE for those who like and prefer zelda 1 styled quests. The mechanics are the same. The items are the same. Most of the layouts are also extremely familiar. Those who prefer LTTP and such styled quests may not like this as it is a return to retro gaming and mechanics. There really is not much else to say about this quest, as it isn't that far off from what the original zelda could have been. Perhaps this game, too, is just another prequel timeline that existed before the original legend of zelda.

Beaten the game, Magical Sword, Magic Shield, Blue Ring, all items.
and remember kiddies:

[Ventus]

Thank you Talq for another entertaining review Look forward to the next.