Posted 15 April 2019 - 08:39 AM
I only made it through the first dungeon.
This is a great quest if you're looking for a challenging and quasi-unfair Zelda-on-rails. The best part are the cutscenes (I only saw the first one, but it was great!)
I have some pretty harsh sounding criticisms, that I hope will be constructive. Keep in mind this quest is still better than anything I could come up with, so don't be discouraged, and keep generating content! Also, I'm holding this quest to the standard of an actual team of professionals, so, as a single amateur, take it with a grain of salt.
The reason I say it's quasi-unfair is this: about half way or three-quarters way through level 1, I realized that I needed the boomerang to proceed. If I didn't already have the boomerang, I would've quit right then, and I suspect many players do just that. ~Or~, even worse: I would have assumed that the boomerang was hidden somewhere in the dungeon, wasted a frustrated hour or two looking, and then quit. The boomerang obstacle should be close enough to the beginning that players realize they need to explore more of the overworld before they're ready for this dungeon.
On the overworld, I didn't get the feeling that I was exploring a new land. None of the barriers to progress were tantalizing— I was never like "Ooh, I can almost get to that cool thing I can see across the bridge! I wonder when I get bombs?"; there was just a bridge with an obvious metroidvania obstacle— so I was sort of unmotivated to proceed for the sake of exploring.
The multiple NPCs who just said "Come back later." were kinda abrupt, and contributed to the "on-rails" feeling of the game. But they also seemed, like, cheerful. They're living pretty alright lives. They don't seem oppressed, or hiding out from the evil king mentioned in the intro. They don't seem to want or need to go to the promised lands at all! The intro scenes and the cutscenes were solid, but then when the player gets to exploring the actual world, the NPCs dismantle the established mood. For example, the cartographer says "I love making maps, and doing what you love is great!" when he could've just as easily said "I make maps because the tyrant king forces us to hide everything valuable." and Old Man Ulrira only gives hints over the phone just because he's shy, not because he's hiding out from the secret police. So I was sort of unmotivated to proceed for the sake of the story.
The dungeon was really good. It was intense, a good contrast to the "grinding playgound" feel of the overworld, just as maze-like as it needed to be and not any more. The enemies served as an obstacle to navigating the maze. They were just an obnoxious, frustrating obstacle for their own sake, with nothing to do with the greater goal. The shortcuts that became available after certain milestones were acheived were really well done. The whole dungeon had a tight, solid theme that was evident consistently.
:D:D
