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The Rusted Soul Demo 1
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By:
Limebeer

Here is the official First demo to my quest 'The Rusted Soul' and is essentially the first half of the game, consisting of 3 out of 6 panned dungeons as well as the first village.

First off, I hope that you enjoy this quest as I have put alot of time into it, and that, if any problems are experienced during gameplay, mainly any bugs are found or the enemy balance is off (i.e. too strong or too weak for that point in the game) then please let me know, either by message or via help topic. Screenshots, as well as what you where doing leading up to that bug will be invaluable.

There is no real story as this is my first attempt at quest building. In fact, this is more of a show of the progression I make as I learn how to handle the ZQuest program. Please keep that in mind as you go through the dungeons. 

This is not designed to be an easy quest. The three dungeons you play in this are called The Sanctuary, Cerulean Waters, and the Magician's Crown. The first dungeon is NES style, while the second shows me breaking away from that template, and the third just shatters away from it. Each of them have their merits and weakpoints, both in execution and design. All in all I am happy with them, as they are all unique from eachother. Though I apologize for the backtracking you will have to do in level 3. It was designed with one element in mind that didn't end up working, so I had to alter it which lead to what it currently is. It is fully playable though, if not a bit longer than I intended... 

Next up I think will be some hints. There are quite a bit of secrets hidden in this quest, some look obvious, others...not so much. There are unmarked walls in alot of places, namely dungeons, though in other places in the overworld that a bombable wall would make some sense. 
There are alot of water secrets as well, more than I remember where they all are. They go from miscellaneous to quite nice.
Speaking of secrets, if you find one that is quite well hidden, that seems to be more of a bonus for finding, then please don't flat out tell it. Hinting is okay, but most of what I want this quest to be is to have the joy of finding secrets that you never knew was there. Eventually, they will become common knowledge from people playing so much, and if they end up being too hard I'll add in some better hints to where most are.

Now, onto some notes on Items. 
You will start out, atleast in this demo, with the standard sword and shield, as well as the first quiver, bomb bag and the 1/2 magic upgrade. Originally I wanted the 1/2 magic upgrade to be obtainable later on, but unfortunately one of my magic items drained it too fast, so I had to compensate for it. I still think some of the items are a bit unbalanced, but not so much as to be game breaking. 
Alot of items are available in this first demo. And a suprising amount of upgrades, though there are no final upgrades available as of yet.
Two of the three spells are hidden in the demo, as well as a few rings (and armor upgrades) and one of the scrolls are obtainable. 

Some advice I will give now. 
Upgrades are available early on. Look for them as the enemies are strong in my quest. The balance (what little there is) is designed in mind that you have discovered these upgrades before encountering the enemies in question. There is a sword and armor upgrade out there. Find them before level 3 or else you'll have a bad time. Actually, find them before taking on boss 2. He's a bastard at times, though sometimes he just makes himself easy to beat...
Another thing to keep in mind is that there is always a purple potion somewhere very close to the dungeon. There are also heart refills or a life shop somewhere in the dungeon... sometimes more than one. Look for floor emblems (except the first dungeon opening screen emblem, that is there for decoration). 
Now, for the overworld, any campfire you see is a heart refill station. Because camping is good and should be enjoyed. There isn't all that much advice needed for the overworld. Expore and find secrets?

One last note. Between this demo and the Final release, things will change in the quest. I will shuffle some things around, and will rework a few things, mainly in some of the dungeon layouts, as well as some elements in them. Secrets will definitely be moved and changed. Needless to say, even if you play the demo and come back just to play the later content, you'll still have new things to discover in the first half of the game.



Thankyou for playing this first demo, I hope to have the next demo out soon, and the full version out not too long after that!

~Limebeer