Reply - Reviews - Link's Quest for the Hookshot 2: Quest - Quests

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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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So..., this quest got a huge update. Apparently inspired by the critique I levelled at the quest, so I'd be remised if I didn't go back and comment on it when improvements have been made.

The quirky dialogue remains at large and there is even a few new additions to it which perfectly fits in. If you want a humorous experience then this quest is for you! The graphics have also got a huge lift, the overworld tilework and screen design was pretty lacklustre and uninspired in the original, it was functional but that's about it. This update brings new life to the graphics though, and while the dungeons remain the same in regards to the graphics, the overworld has got a major facelift and looks very pretty! I'm still not sold on the repeated flashing between cyan and bright red with black in level 8, but that's also probably my only complaint when it comes to graphics in this quest.

So the new graphics look great, but some new gameplay problems was introduced because of it. It ties specifically to the hanging garden and the konami grove, more so the former than the latter. There is a lot of visual flair that appears above Link and enemies, so much as to it makes it impossible to see enemies and projectiles, and even where you are, at times. I didn't have a huge issue with it myself, given that it's fairly easy to tank things in normal, but I can't imagine this being anything but frustrating on harder difficulty levels.

Speaking of which, this quest now have a wide variety of difficulty levels! Now, I'm personally not a huge fan of difficulty solutions that only tweak damage numbers, but I have not tried them all so I wouldn't know exactly what's different between them. That being said, it's impossible to deny that the addition of difficulty levels makes this quest accessible and more enjoyable for a wider audience, and to me that's only a good thing.

Speaking of gameplay problems though, many of the old ones have been fixed! A lot of tedium in the quest has been removed by the additions of a few midway teleporters in some dungeon. Additionally, wallmasters and bats are not longer enemies that you're required to kill to open "kill all enemies" doors, this is a small change that has a huge impact on how enjoyable the quest is to actually play. And there are many of these type of changes, I won't go through them all, as that would take a while, but here is a short list of a few:

"Space" map in most dungeons. (Very, VERY, useful for level 8 ).
No door repair guys. (AFAIK tell anyway).
Better rupee costs on some items, and in general better flow in obtainable shop items. (Could just be me knowing where shit is though...).
Being able to change difficulty in-game either up and down based on players current preference.
Less windrobes.
All the changes done to the monochrome dungeon. (Actually, I liked the "required" floor markings, but I guess it makes sense why they were removed... They did provide info on what order you were supposed to do things in though).

I found several of the optional bonus dungeons in this quest to be fairly terrible in the last version, and while I still believe that, the ones I did find bad have been completely replaced with new ones that are both more interesting and challenging for players in a more creative way. The focus on repeatedly sending the player back to start has been removed, and instead we have a bigger focus on creative gimmicks. One of the dungeons is now an elaborate and complex puzzle dungeon (though it's completely bearable due to "space" map) while another is a gimmicky platforming dungeon, and it really shows that Moosh has improved in making those. There is very little to complain about here, and even if you for some gosh darn reason prefer to play the old terrible messes these dungeons used to be than legacy mode lets you do that.

Speaking of bonus dungeons, a new one was added. It's fairly short and gimmicky, and is more of a build up to the reward more so than anything else. It was a fun short experience with a few references, but I wouldn't say the dungeon really adds much personally. The reward though, is the games new super weapons. 10/10 Lunarias (from alternate timelines) agree that they are pretty dank stronk. You get to pick one and they all cater to very different play-styles, personally I prefer the salty option, but I can at least see the use for most of them. Not the tentai though, seriously, it does not seem useful. (Needs more red paint so it goes faster).

There is also a super secret extra super boss in the quest. I'm not a huge fan of it TBH but whatever, it's so far removed for the rest of the quest that really, who gives a shit? Even if you don't beat it then it can provide some funny narrative just from finding it.

Now, I'm personally against ratings, I think they are garbage and undermines reviews. What's important shouldn't be some abstract number, but rather the views presented. That being said, we do have required ratings here for reviews, so I'm obligated to give a fair one regardless. Now, I said last time that this was either a 2 or a 3, but that I'd have to drop it the lowest dips of quality. Now those dips have been smoothed out and the quest has actually got a major upgrade in many ways. And I definitively think this quest is above average now, so I'll give it a SLAM! out of five.

To be honest, if a Link's Quest for the Hookshot 3 was announced, I'd probably be fairly excited for it, this was some good shit moosh, some good shit, right there, RIGHT THERE!
~Lunaria

For legacy reasons, the old review for the older version of the quest will archived, you can read that here:

"Quest for the hookshot 2: The moral dilemma of what to rate the quest, a three, or a two? At the end of the day, I guess I have to rate it based on the lower dips of quality.

This quest started off rather great. Somewhat quirky dungeon design and plot, and really well made custom bosses. The overworld wasn't anything to hang in the christmass tree, but hey, it worked. Sadly, it all came to an end when I got the dark world... and everything turned horrid. Once you get there everything seems to be balance to the player already having the red ring, which is located in a hidden shop. While the player can access it right away, the problem is knowing where it is. There are also plenty of door repair guy rooms on the overworld in the general area around it... and the red ring costs the maximum amount of rupees the player can carry at that point. And that's not even touching the dungeon design, which went all downhill.

I want to like places like the Tablet factory, but it just has too many flaws. Level 7 also has some terrible gimmicks. The first is that the dungeon has an easy and a hard mode, once you pick one, you're stuck with that choice for the rest of the save file. The problem with that is that the hard dungeon is complete bullshit of the highest degree, and features enjoyable gimmicks such as: Shooters that shoot wind (yes the kind that takes back to start), shooters that shot homing bullets that when they hit the wall explodes into two wind shots. I'm sure you can imagine how enjoyable a dungeon full of those are going to be! But hey, you can always just choose the easy path, right? Sure, if you don't mind getting insulted by the game every timer to enter it! And honestly, given foreknowledge, it's not really a choice; One is a proper dungeon, the other is one of the most frustrating and rage inducing dungeons in the quest.

Then there is level 8, AKA, final dungeon of maximum seizure. For people with eye problems, this dungeon is unplayable, as it will constantly switch between complete black with bright red, to a very bright cyan, and some times this happens very rapidly. And while the dungeon does have a very interesting gimmick..., the fact that it drags on forever and have quite a few instances where you can be sent 8+ rooms back is frustrating. This is mostly due to how confusing the dungeon is in structure, and if you're not adept at making mind maps, or you're making your own map, well..., let's just say you won't be having a good time, at all.

The quest also has some horrible bonus dungeons, including: A side scrolling tower to climb that has very narrow/precise platforming (that is a bit buggy), combined with annoying enemies, windrobes, and wind turrets! A dungeon inspired by the glorious Impa's way from Parallel Worlds, yet somehow, was made even bloody worse. That dungeon has such funny mechanics as: Really confusing teleporting system, moving invisible spikes, moving invisible teleporting tiles that take you back to start. Another bonus dungeon is one that the player is forced to do with very limited gear, yet is completely filled with absurd amount of things the player is supposed to dodge. Of course, these dungeons are optional, but they do host the best gear in the game. And I can not conceive why they were included considering how plain up unenjoyable they are.

I'd also like to give a huge shout out to my homeboy patra, who got at least 50 starring roles in this quest, good show man, good show!

At the end of the day, would I recommend this quest? Not really sure to be honest. There are a lot of interesting and cool things to see here, that's for sure. And in many regards, there are some quite good design thoughts and decisions put into it. But on the other hand, there are a lot of really terrible ones too. It's certainly not a quest I'd recommend to completionists. It's worthwhile to look into if you're a quest designer to see some of the more interesting ideas and puzzles, but it's not a quest that I'd think most would enjoy to try and complete completely"(sic)

Mani Kanina

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