This is the quest that inspired me to make my own zelda classic quest.
This was my original review of the quest when I was, I wanna say 13 at the time? The interesting part about this is that while it is definitely still true, I never actually got past the first dungeon of Link to Tortuga when I was a child. My fixation on it was actually a product of its visuals and vibes. Recently, I decided I wanted to finally give it a proper playthrough of it, as I had wanted to see if it had aged well, as well as the fact that I wanted to use it as inspiration in one of my own upcoming projects. After finishing it, I noticed there was never a particularly comprehensive review of this quest, and I wanted to rectify that.
This is a truly fascinating quest that is just as interesting as its creator. Every aspect of it oozes Freedom's personality across the entire project (For better and for worse at times.), and it results in something that's tonally unlike a lot of other quests in the database. One of the lead mechanics is the lead town updating after every main dungeon, something I've only really seen in one other quest, and doing it pre-2.5, and 8 times at that, is so impressive. It goes as far as "the town is its own character" at times, and that's very enjoyable seeing first hand.
Music is not something I comment too much on, but I do wanna compliment the song choices here a ton. I have no clue what the theme for the first OW section is, but it sets the tone perfectly, and every other track does the same, with one very specific exception. Yo Ho A Pirates Life for Me is a fun song that fits the pirate theming of the quest, but I can't help but think it probably should've been solely used for the intro cutscene and not a section of the town itself, as it does get repetitive rather quickly. Every other track, however, works beautifully, and I always had fun exploring with such pretty tracks in the background.
Unsurprisingly the single biggest piece of praise I can give this quest is the overworld itself. Not only is it super fun and fulfilling to explore, but every area is absolutely gorgeous, going far beyond anything in its time, and I think even now, it's in the top 10 of prettiest quests on the database. There is almost always something to find and when you're exploring areas that look like this:
Like, my praise cannot be given enough. Swashbuck Swamp and Barnacle Barts Bog are legitimately two of the most visually distinct areas in any quest. Even beyond that, some of the visual techniques it uses to give it a distinct feel are also interesting, particularly the choice to use what is normally the tiles for cave walls as the mountain tiles for the entire quest. It's visually distinct in a way that makes it super memorable, and there's really only one area I'd say the quest somewhat slacks visually, and that's Plethora Mountain, which still has some cool stuff to find.
As far as the dungeons go, I have quite a number of issues with them, but let's start with the positives. I actually think the way this quest handles keys to be super interesting, where they feel less like a progression item and more like a resource you have to choose to spend or not. Some dungeons may result in you not having enough keys as two dungeons in particular have chests that are ostensibly a waste if you use them, as well as places to use keys in the world, when you're only given two keys in the overworld proper.
This results in a scenario where you're encouraged to have purchased at least one key on standby before a dungeon (As you can buy them in this quest.), but more importantly, if you know a key won't net you anything in the end, you can actually end up rewarded for avoiding a key use in a given dungeon to save for later use. While this does result in some frustration on a first playthrough (Misuse of keys in level 3 can actually result in you being minus on keys.), this could legitimately make a repeat playthrough super interesting, as knowing where the resources are results in much heftier rewards. There's even a way to get Super Bombs for cheap early on in the quest at the cost of the Level 1 key, that can lead to your earlygame power snowballing, and as there's actually not that many Super Bomb triggers in a quest where Super Bombs are super easy to come by, and with enough Bomb expansions, you can hold up to 7 of them. Super Bombs are one of the best combat items in this quest if you're willing to expend them, and you're probably getting some of the best bang for you buck in any quest for them here.
This goes doubly so for the way town progression works. For instance, you don't get the Lens of Truth until after around level 5, normally. The shop in town before beating level 1, however, has a Lens of Truth for sale for 300 rupees. The big wallet is in level 2, so you could legitimately get the dungeon item of level 1, leave, go get the wallet from level 2, and then buy the Lens a full five dungeons in advance. Sadly, this is the only item that's actually particularly worth waiting to beat a dungeon for, and it's one that's really only useful on a first one, but I would legitimately recommend it to people who don't like dealing with cryptic secrets.
Sadly, however, this does lead into a number of flaws I have with the quest. For starters, the reason I say the only time it's worth updating the shop for the Lens is because the shop in town for the remainder of the quest is just kind of terrible? Items are either overpriced as a joke, or slightly more expensive than an option right below the town that has some of the cheapest shop options in the entire quest that never update. The only decent shop is the final one you get, for 35 rupee cost super bombs, however, by that point, you already have access to another shop that allows for this.
Despite the praises I have for the Key economy in this quest, I'm not sure I can exactly say the same about dungeon progression itself. These are absolutely massive dungeons, with many cryptic secrets, including formal walk through walls, that the lens cannot catch, making the lens still not a perfect solution if you get stuck. Visually, they're for the most part, not as good as the overworld, and while I like the idea of multiple entrance dungeons, level 3 in particular overdid it in some areas, although level 4 brought it back around. Level 4 is my favorite dungeon in the quest by a pretty significant margin, although 6 and 7 do have some good arguments as well. Both are visually distinct looking, and the dungeon entrance aspect of level 4 was even more fun. It's kind of a shame that the multiple dungeon entrance gimmick goes away after Level 4, but perhaps its for the best, as it would have made the cryptic design even more cryptic. There's also a bunch of ZC tricks at play with these dungeons that I'd like to praise real quick, like bridge rooms, which I still struggle with pulling off that are always cool.
My least favorite dungeons were absolutely level 3 and 8. Level 3 is visually very cool, but it has my least favorite dungeon theme, and it is by far the most cryptic dungeon in the quest. Level 8 meanwhile is just pretty dull, with the outer part of the dungeon being pretty much straight unbridled copy paste screen design that I feel like the rest of the quest doesn't really do, including levels 2 and 5, which are formal symmetry dungeons, but still manage to feel distinct, progression wise. I don't think the overall package of dungeons are bad here, but if you can't figure out where those walk through walls are (and there are a TON of them,), you're not gonna have a great time with the dungeons in this quest.
The last, incredibly small negative I'd like to give the quest is that like, while I enjoyed most of the dialogue, some of it definitely gave a bit of a weird vibe. I'd definitely like to chalk it up to different time, but as a small warning, I think the way some of the women in this quest, while it's nothing particularly egregious, there's a vibe where many women in the quest are written as... is loose the right word? Notably an NPC who flirts with Link on two occasions and mentions her boyfriend afterwards, and an entire running gag side story that updates every dungeon where a guy is sent to prison for being angry, because his girlfriend is supposedly sleeping with the guards (Although I'm more willing to give this bit in particular a pass, because I think the ultimate punchline at the end is actually very funny and turns it around a bit.). There's some other questionable parts of the writing, but like I've said, I'll chalk some of it up to a different time. I just figured I would put it all here, to warn anybody uncomfortable with that kind of humor that it is a part of the quest.
I think ultimately the quest is too cryptic for me to give it a 5 on principle, but this is still a really special quest to me. I didn't lie, this quest truly did inspire me to get better at ZC and take it a lot more seriously, and finally beating it, I think it's still continuing to inspire me. This is one of the most interesting quests on the database, and while I probably could never recommend it for something like Quest Club, I think this one is truly special.
