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[Ether]

The Bounds of Waterford by Lynel Richie

 

  

 
 

I was a little kid when Zelda came out in the 80s. When I wasn't playing NES, I would walk around our woodsy neighborhood holding a stick, pretending I was Link fighting my way through Hyrule. I would imagine there were enemies, traps, and secret entrances to dungeons. Now, several years later I got this amazing opportunity to build a Zelda quest based on all of that.

The quest differs from most quests since it based tightly on a real life place. It works without having the typical areas such as a snow area or mountains or desserts. Despite there being a lot of forest the map still remains diverse.
 
You'll find nine dungeon that progress in difficulty and complexity as you play through. I was certain utilize the enemy editor to the fullest extent creating unique version of the normal Zelda foes. It uses the Classic XD tileset with a ton of custom tiles for whatever else I wanted to put into the game.

 
 

It's one of the coolest classic style quests I've seen, which has the advantage of using 2.55 to smooth over some of the issues that plague older style classic quests. Not perfect, but it's got so much charm.

[xanadude]

Playtested this one and had a lot of fun, never got to finish it though. Can't wait to dive back in, definitely an overlooked quest

[Deedee]

Beat the quest in 7 hours. I liked how a lot of the dungeons had a "twist" when it came to getting the dungeon item or boss key, and I liked the minibosses. I liked that the dungeons had their own visual identity despite using the default classic look, and I really liked the final dungeon being a sort of medley of all the dungeons. The overworld minibosses were also a cute touch. The overworld was also nice; the train track is definitely the most memorable part of the overworld. I also liked how you had to search to find out how to enter level 2 and explore the overworld a bit. I like a lot of the polish on animations, and I really liked the power trip the wand gave you.

I wasn't feeling super great when I started playing, and unfortunately, the quest didn't really cheer me up. I don't know how much of that is the quest's fault or me just feeling kinda hollow, but I think a lot of other quests would have been better at making me get into it and forgetting everything, while this one didn't really. The quest did do some things I found bad; Buck/Doe was a very unfun dungeon with permajinx bubbles in every room of one side, meltable ice blocks perfectly placed so no matter where you use the candle you have to wait for your fire to go out, a long backtrack to basically anywhere (especially the boss), and the boss being a fire gleeok all contributed to a dungeon I hated; and the choice to make the Amulet 400 rupees with a dungeon that has every room be invisible and the boss an invisible gohma was also a very questionable decision. However, I wasn't super feeling it even before these things happened. Just... I don't know, the quest didn't really click for me in the same way others that have been rolled in quest club have? The quest doesn't really do anything wrong; a lot of it I can point to as being good things the quest did, so I'm very confused as to my feelings on it.

[Russ]

This was a really fun one to replay. In a lot of ways, I feel like this is the ideal classic quest. The OW is just the right size, full of secrets to explore, but nothing is too obscure. The black key monsters add a fun secondary exploration challenge to it as well. The world itself is... whimsical? It was based off memories of the creator exploring his hometown, and it really shows. Stuff like the train tracks through the woods and over the water, or the area that's simple "Over the Bridge" that feels... magical, almost. It recreates that sense of walking through the woods as a kid.

 

The dungeons are also pretty solid. They walk the line nicely between being true classic dungeons and having cool puzzles, both navigational and room-based. They're all big enough to explore their mechanics, but small enough that they don't overstay their welcome. I really enjoyed the mechanics in a lot of them. Blue Gill in particular did some really cool stuff with the hammer puzzles and doors. I didn't have as much trouble with Buck/Doe as Deedee did, Fire Gleeok aside. Really, my main issue, if it can be called that, is that despite the dungeon being intended as level 8 (I believe), it's far easier to find than 5-7, leading to a difficulty curve that's a bit wonky. Not a huge issue, but it does make it feel like the game is guiding you towards a lot of pain.

 

There's some little issues here or there. The late game has a bit of money grinding that I wasn't a fan of, and the final dungeon feels a bit linear. While I liked Buck/Doe, the central mechanic can get a bit obnoxious, and while I loved most of the block puzzles, one or two felt excessive. But overall, this is the kind of experience I want from a classic quest. Highly recommend it.