I was admittedly a little afraid to get to this one. I had heard some mixed things about it, particularly with its' difficulty, and I was worried it might actually be too hard for me or something... I don't think I felt the difficulty hit me until level 8, and that's also where I think the quest hits a significant drop in quality, but I'm getting ahead of myself. I decided to just play this one in my own time and it's...

Honestly a pretty great time all around. Naturally, it's very pretty, and the ways in which it's evocative of the Sega Master System in particular is really cool to see. Vibes in this one are pretty damn excellent, and I think when it tries to do pretty setpieces, it rules. Graphically, I really liked any attempt at sideview, and I absolutely adore the dither effect on waterfalls when you're under them. It still stands as one of the prettiest quests on the database.

Overworld design is serviceable, but it's a good means to see pretty screens, so I'm not complaining. It's a very Z1 OW, albeit more formally progression gated in the same way as something like Link's Awakening (which tends to be how most quests go, especially the further back you go.). Dungeon design is honestly interesting. I realllly like the dungeons on display here (Barring level 8.). The puzzles in particular stand out as a bunch of simple, but extremely well designed puzzles that I actually think anybody looking for inspiration to design their own puzzles should look into when making their own quests. Specifically, in the way it harmonizes the functions of multiple mechanics later down the line in order to do stuff like mixing together hookshot and pushblock puzzles at the same time and the like. These are extremely fun puzzles for a quest that's hilariously, more notorious for its kind of big elephant in the room: the difficulty.

Interestingly, I struggle to have a lot to say here, but I'll do my best. Quest difficulty is a weird thing, since this quest largely uses unedited ZC enemies (Which is only notable since the quest was made in 2.50.). Frankly, it's to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if this quest actually was developed in 2.10 initially and then eventually version upgraded for minor conveniences such as SFX changes and extremely minuscule changed to enemies like the Manhandla. Getting a bit sidetracked though, it's admittedly hard for me to discuss difficulty, since I'm exceedingly familiar with ZC gameplay in particular, and so I struggled to have a hard time playing. Level 4 is supposed to be where the difficulty jump begins, and tbf, the boss is a 5 headed Gleeok, which is kinda spooky for that point in the game, but nothing a good use of a potion would fix. With that said, you can get the Blue Ring right after level 3, and given the potential difficulty jump from that point forward, it makes me legitimately wonder if you were intended to find it immediately after said dungeon. I think in general, this is a quest that expects you to go searching the overworld a whole lot between dungeons, so if you don't enjoy doing that and just try to move from objective to objective, you're definitely going to struggle, and I imagine that's where the perception of this quest's difficulty comes from.

With that said, Level 8 is very much a downward spiral, albeit not entirely. The puzzle quality is still there, but the dungeon is probably the least appealing aesthetically, and enemy design is very much at it's most "We are going to kill you because we can.". This doesn't get much better with the final segment of the game, but the custom boss at the end of it was a nice surprise. Overall, I think this is a fairly small portion of the game, so it doesn't nearly bother me as much as it should, and it's still aesthetically really awesome, so I very much don't mind it that much. There's also an optional massive enemy gauntlet that can be accessed as soon as you get the flippers that's definitely designed to be played after level 8, and I kinda really don't like it. Fortunately, your prize is not at all neccesary to complete the game, so it being completely optional does kinda mitigate that, but it definitely feels like the weakest part of the whole game.

Overall, this is a charming quest that for the most part, gets its flowers from me, as a decently difficult quest, with a bit of a drop off near the end. I like this one quest a bit, and while I can't go out of my way to recommend it to everyone, it's an easy rec to those who like z1 type gameplay and really like pretty quests, and are also willing to accept that there will be some BS near the end. This was a nice one.

Okay. So. I wanted to LOVE this quest. I was so ready to love it. But I ended up feeling meh about the experience.

First of all, this game has has so much time and effort put into it's presentation, and it shows. It definitely comes off as a super late 80s Zelda clone. But it also plays like a late 80s Zelda clone. What I mean by that is that this game feels like a game trying to emulate Zelda yet failing to make a lasting impression or well designed game. The difficulty in this game makes no sense, as there are so many difficulty dips and spikes early in the game that I've run into. There are so many shooters in the quest, which isn't helped by the fact that the damage output from them has doubled. This makes dungeon diving a chore to do. This game gives off major Golden Axe Warrior/Neutopia vibes, both of which run into the same issue as the thesis of this review: games failing at emulating a fun Zelda experience. It's also not that I don't love NES-Style quests - some of my favorite quests are Origin and Hero's Memory - it's that I don't like Zelda clones.

I hope this review makes some sort of sense. I think everyone should play this quest to see what they think about the game. I'm giving this quest a 3, it might have stellar presentation but it lacks in interesting, fun gameplay.

Should I be embressed after running around forever cause I didn't realize the torch on the wall?
Since it was obvious that this room holds the solution.
Since it happened in other quests before.
Since it happened again in the same quest a day later

Great quest, did struggle a bit to realize the place of the dark cave.
Also no idea, what a certain flame amulet is used for.
Also got a certain key too early.

I think it's time to review some of the quest I've played along these years... and I think this is the best quest to start doing so.

Golvellius is a fantastic quest. It really sums up what everyone can expect of ZC, and excels doing so. You can look at this game and wonder if you are still playing in ZC, because everything seems so polished, so professional, that you can easily take for granted that you're playing a professional game. To do a little nitpicking, I would say that the game is kind of easy if you are used to play ZC. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but as someone that enjoys being challenged, I found it a bit easy, and the worst part of it is the final boss, which is way to easy (actually, the enemies before him are worse than the final boss itself, or that is how I feel it at the moment).

This quest is epic, is memorable, is charming, and feels like magic. If you are new to pureZC and want to take one quest to begin with, there are VERY few quest that can rival with this one.

Love this quest. 5/5

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Edit: Staff contacted me an basically told me that I'd have to bump up my rating for all quests I have ever reviewed by one star. Note that this does not reflect my own opinion on the matter, or the quest, but just that it was something I was made required to do.
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Very good quest in most aspects. However, it's not perfect.

The biggest design failure lies in the rooms that have shooters, in fact, I'd say you solve the majority of all problems in this quest by halving the amount of shooters in the rooms that have them!
The text and dialogue in the quest could also use quite a bit of fine tuning. For example, the hint that is given for finding the mirror is accurate, it's just that it's not quite as understandable what is meant with it due to the awkward wording.
Oh and, the final boss fight is a joke in terms of design. (I suggest re-doing it.)

If those things had been fixed, etc, I'd rate this a 5, but as it stands I'll have to put it at a 4. Still, I do recommend this quest for people.

Well nvm ^^,
I found a link with music and all

This is the only ZC quest worth playing.

Anyways, why is this quest genre "Other"? I'd clearly choose NES-Style for this, who is with me? ..

By the way this quest is already the top #3 rated quest!

Alright just got the game with the music!, looking forward to playing

Pretty awesome looking but it saddens me that there is no music at all with this quest.
I know it says to download it from http://wonderboy.bobi.free.fr/ but my connection speed kinda limits me.
there should have been a MIDI soundtrack with the game.


I need music with games I play so...everyone have fun with game without me.