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The Deep

Overview Feature Quest
Creator: Joaish (RedTribeLink) Genre: Metroidvania Added: 13 Mar 2024 ZC Version: 2.55 Downloads: 231 Rating[?]: Rating: 4.8/5 (14 ratings) Download Quest
(4.75 MB)
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Mani Kanina  

Posted 03 August 2024 - 12:09 PM
A lovely little quest that is worth being taken for a spin by just about anyone, I'd figure. If you're not familiar with ZC then drop down the difficulty to the lowest and I'm sure you'll be fine. It's mostly a boost in the early game, but that's fine, since even on the normal difficulty you get quite tanky by the end.

I liked most of this quest, it had some rather exciting exploration with several neat areas. And I especially dig that most things are fairly non-linear.

I've got a couple of nitpicks and/or suggestions for things that could maybe be improved if you wish:
  • I used one of my earlier keys to get to the merchant selling the bug catching net. This left me lacking when I eventually found the path towards the lamp. But because of my lack of lamp I never noticed the screen transition I needed to pass in order to find the screen with the final key. It was a bit mildly frustrating because I just ran around feeling like I had wasted a key.
  • A fairy fountain or something at least midway through the game would make sense. The bug catching net in general feels like a useless purchase since you need to kinda of hope for a fairy to drop from an enemy; while also being both ready to scope it up before you pick it up, all while praying it does not camp inside of a wall. I caught a grand total of a single fairy with it in my playthrough, which wasn't worth the asking price. So a fountain somewhere later on feels like it'd be good.
  • The warp tiles in the green caves are a bit unclear where they will take you. It felt a bit like trial and error figuring things out, all while hoping I didn't step on something that would send me backwards rather than forwards.
  • The smoke/mist making the trees spam fireballs at you wasn't especially clear. I know there is a hint for it, but I got to the NPC with that hint well after I had cleared most of the area.
  • Speaking of which, some of the projectile spam is maybe a bit too intense? Those trees could shoot half as many bullets and they would still be intense.
  • The ending was a bit abrupt. I was expecting a couple of more screens or something. Or at least stepping up above ground before it cut to black.
  • The water drown respawn locations let you cut certain corners; allowing for sequence breaks. (This is how I bypassed the keyblock right before the lamp).
But yeah, I was quite impressed with this quest. Especially on account of being made for a contest and it not using any scripts at all. Good showing.
 

Useless Old Man Wisdom  
Rating: 4/5

Posted 30 July 2024 - 01:24 AM
I finally got around to playing through this quest today, and while I found it fun and even brilliant at certain rare moments, I just don't feel as impressed or blown away as I thought I was going to be.

The core metroidvania premise of several floors of an underground cave system and various small dungeons reminds me a lot of the quest Yeto's Hide and Seek, but I think unlike the former, The Deep is missing some sort of intangible ~esoterism~ that made Yeto's Hide and Seek - and all of Yeto's quests really - really appeal to me. I think the cave network in The Deep is a little too plain and straightforward, with little problem to figure out what to do. I'm sure that style of gameplay appeals to most people, but with all the setup for how The Deep is shrouded in mystery, I didn't find it to be very profound.

I've actually had this very core idea for a metroidvania quest clunking around in my head for years now: a subterranean cave system with a bunch of interconnected floors with crazy lore and wild things unfolding the deeper you go - like To the Top, but the opposite. When I saw this quest in the database, I thought maybe someone read my mind and made the quest that I envision, but alas, this quest really isn't. While there is some lore spread throughout The Deep, I've honestly already forgotten most of it. The story in The Deep seems like an after thought really, and maybe the quest would be better if the story was omitted entirely.

Maybe it's because this is a miniquest - while on the long side for a miniquest - and there's just not that much to take in. I honestly think The Deep would be a lot better if it was padded out more like a regular quest and there were another 2 or 3 floors of cave systems. I really liked the three-ice-block puzzle in the ice cave, where I ended up solving the puzzle with an out-of-the-box yet also common-sense approach.
Spoiler
. Then there was a puzzle in Taboo Tunnels
Spoiler
that had me fooled for a minute trying to manipulate a wizzrobe to spawn in such a way as to reflect its magic projectile. These are some brilliant puzzles in my opinion, and I wish there were a lot more of of them throughout The Deep.

I played on "TheDeep" difficulty level and found the boss fights to be quite easy. In fact, I found enemy clutter and getting knocked into pits, water, or damage tiles to be more of a difficulty. I would probably play on the next difficulty level up and be more careful on the non-boss screens. The music choices are all very-ZC conventional in my opinion, with nothing particuarly surprising on that front. I was probably most disappointed in the final boss fight - even though I really don't go gaga for grandiose boss fights - more in the sense that it felt so anti-climatic when I was done and reached the end credits. It just didn't feel like there was any resolution, or big reveal, or something to make it all seem worthwhile in the end. I didn't even realize I was walking into the final boss and thought I was stepping into a level-9 sort of dungeon, so maybe I'm disappointed there wasn't an epic sort of dungeon lead up.

I want to reiterate that I did find the gameplay fun and really enjoyed some of the puzzles; but ultimately, The Deep just left me vaguely unsatisfied and wanting more. I think if I didn't have the idea for a quest that I mentioned I wouldn't think too much about many of these points. All in all, I think I completed the quest in about four hours and coincidentally enough, will round up my rating to four stars.
  • TheRock likes this
 

Haylee  
Rating: 5/5

Posted 20 July 2024 - 12:19 AM
- My Review Here -

Summary: One of the best quests on the database, easily. Anybody looking to get into ZC Quests or learn what the program can currently do without scripting should play this one.
  • Joaish (RedTribeLink) likes this
 

Joelmacool  
Rating: 5/5

Edited 27 June 2024 - 03:16 PM
Played this one on Twitch around two months ago, but it looks like I forgot to give it a review! It was an absolute blast, and I had fun throughout the entire quest. A really great showcase of what 2.55 has to offer, and a quest that I would 100% recommend to any newcomers looking to see what ZC has in store!
  • Joaish (RedTribeLink) likes this
 

Jambu  
Rating: 5/5

Edited 29 March 2024 - 10:31 AM
Finished the quest! For my first custom quest this was a real treat but I guess it also set the expectations kind of high lol. Played on Light difficulty, but now I want to try for a harder difficulty yo!
I really like how the fire rod and ice rod are implemented together in this quest. The puzzle solving was simply sublime, and the nonlinear progression. The level design is flawless.
It's a great quest and I recommend this quest to others as well! Easy Five Stars!
  • Joaish (RedTribeLink) likes this