Reviews
Useless Old Man Wisdom
Posted 28 December 2016 - 10:08 PM
I just recently, over 8 years later, found this quest as well. I enjoyed the massive, 9-overworld Master Quest chapter 2, despite the fact that quest isn't really finished and is buggy. It stands to reason I sould like this 9-overworld quest as well, seeing that exploration is my thing.
Well Nine Villages is a faithful NES-style quest that delivers on its promises of a massive, yet navigable overworld. In particular, the lost woods is pretty brilliant. All of the extra mini-dungeons and caves compliment the nine main dungeons to balance out the mass of overworld exploring. Difficulty is moderate, secrets are mostly obvious, and I took about 23 hours start to finish to 99% this.
On the negative side, there are many, many questionable design choices and flat out bad gimmicks that are inexplicable and drag the rating down. Some that come to mind are the wand-game in Ruto, the use of sword/item jinx bubbles without any blue bubbles anywhere nearby, and I feel excessive use of vires and splitting darknuts. Those two enemies, being always respawned, make navigating the later dungeons much more tedious than need be.
Interestingly, this 2.10 quest does play very smooth and really doesn't show its age. Also of note is the excellent support and walkthrough pages provided at the author's website, linked in the quest's readme. I can't recall such great documentation outside of IoR 's wiki page. I would recommend this to any one else who likes NES-style exploration quests.
Well Nine Villages is a faithful NES-style quest that delivers on its promises of a massive, yet navigable overworld. In particular, the lost woods is pretty brilliant. All of the extra mini-dungeons and caves compliment the nine main dungeons to balance out the mass of overworld exploring. Difficulty is moderate, secrets are mostly obvious, and I took about 23 hours start to finish to 99% this.
On the negative side, there are many, many questionable design choices and flat out bad gimmicks that are inexplicable and drag the rating down. Some that come to mind are the wand-game in Ruto, the use of sword/item jinx bubbles without any blue bubbles anywhere nearby, and I feel excessive use of vires and splitting darknuts. Those two enemies, being always respawned, make navigating the later dungeons much more tedious than need be.
Interestingly, this 2.10 quest does play very smooth and really doesn't show its age. Also of note is the excellent support and walkthrough pages provided at the author's website, linked in the quest's readme. I can't recall such great documentation outside of IoR 's wiki page. I would recommend this to any one else who likes NES-style exploration quests.
Imzogelmo
Posted 25 October 2011 - 12:42 PM
This was one of my favorite quests to play. I love the vastness of the world. It is large but you also have a warping system that makes navigation easier. The difficulty curve is not so steep as to be torture, but it still is a challenge, especially at higher levels (which is good design IMO). Very solid from start to finish!
MermaidCim
Posted 01 April 2011 - 07:50 AM
I just now played this and, I gotta say...this was a tough quest for the part being it was very long. Only died 5 times which is quite remarkable for me considering this quest was huge.
There is some minor issue I have and that's the fact you used a little too many Super Darknuts. It felt like every 3-4 rooms I encountered a room with 3-4+ at least. Next time though, put less of them. Other than that, very nicely done.
There is some minor issue I have and that's the fact you used a little too many Super Darknuts. It felt like every 3-4 rooms I encountered a room with 3-4+ at least. Next time though, put less of them. Other than that, very nicely done.
CastChaos
Posted 17 May 2008 - 10:54 AM
Extremely good layout, great overworld and dungeon ideas, and the "overworld map warp" idea is frenetic, while the overworld and its exploration is huge and smooth. However, the difficulty starts to grow too quick near the end and it hits "near impossible" before the game would end. There's really better ways to provide challenge without mass using the hardest enemies.
Nashvillan
Posted 08 May 2008 - 10:03 PM
I'm very picky when it comes to ratings. I don't rate many quests... and the few I do, I never give perfect scores for. That said, this is a great quest. I found myself visiting areas just to hear the music again. Scheherezade! Wow, I beat that game so many times growing up. I still think Bayou Billy would have fit well in the swamp area, but to each his own. It's a massive overworld and yet you can travel across it with great speed if need be. This quest is a shiny gem in the database!