Despite being released 10+ years ago, this quest remains one of the (imo) best quests in the database.
The quest's shining accomplishment is its overworld. Both the light and dark worlds feature an intricate cave system. Each overworld is expansive - much of the light world is open to the player upon starting, and a lot of the dark world is available to the player upon reaching that stage (though you won't be able to access later dungeons without items from earlier dungeons). Lots of heart pieces to find (since not every boss drops a full heart container). With the possible exception of Quest 744, there is no quest in the database (that I know of) that has a more complete light/dark world system.
Dungeons are large and fun. And there are a lot of dungeons. Most of the main dungeons follow a sequence of: (1) find 2-3 keys, (2) get dungeon item #1 using those keys, (3) find 2-3 more keys that you can access with new dungeon item #1, (4) get dungeon item #2, (5) find 1-2 more keys, find the boss key, fight the boss. Some dungeons have three items. I can understand if folks find such dungeon sequences repetitive after a bit, though I think many/most quests follow this pattern. It works for me - I like that sort of exploration.
Soundtrack is superb - especially the Light World (a good overworld track is soooo important!) and many of the Castlevania tracks.
I've played both the main and extreme versions of this quest at least twice (each time several years apart), so it's possible that my high ratings are influenced by nostalgia glasses. I think the quest has aged well.
Dungeon Gameplay (35%) - 9.5/10.0
Overworld Gameplay (25%) - 9.9/10.0
Graphics (15%) - 9.5/10.0
Soundtrack (25%) - 9.8/10.0
Overall / Weighted Average: 9.7/10.0
The Hidden Duality: Director's Cut
Overview
Feature Quest
Creator:
DarkFlameWolf
Genre: Dungeon Romper
Added: 30 May 2003
Updated: 13 Jun 2006
ZC Version: 1.92 B182
Downloads: 1397
Rating[?]:
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Download Quest (2.02 MB) |
Information
The ultimate and final version of Hidden Duality. It included 5 new mini-dungeons, a new arrangement of enemies in certain locations to increase difficulty. Addition of boss keys and various graphical enhancements like shadows and bush clippings. Added many new things and re-arranged things to how I really wanted it to be when I looked back on the original quest in retrospect and wasn't happy with some of it. This is the definitive version of Hid... [View Full Description]
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RetroChallengeGamer
Edited 18 November 2015 - 10:57 AM
After having a horrendous time playing through this quest earlier this year on a 3 heart, no potion challenge, I thought I'd come back and give the quest a fair shake by playing it normally and gathering up all heart pieces and using potions. It really isn't as bad or as hard as I remember it being the first time around. So I feel the difficulty, although tough at times, is fair throughout. However, as previous reviewers have commented, this quest was more geared towards an older generation of Zelda players, ones who are familiar and love the old classic LOZ1 style. No hands held and no clues given. However, given the extent one can push the boundaries of quests these days, it has not aged well. Despite this, the game still gets novelty points for being one of the few ZC quests to pull off the dark/light world mechanic well and hide deviously clever secrets within as a result. I give it a solid three. Neither bad nor great, but definitely worth one playthrough.
-RCG
-RCG
