Hero of Dreams joins Lost Isle and Isle of Rebirth in the Best of the Best tier of quests, showcasing the creativity that ZC is capable of. While it’s not as perfect and polished as the two aforementioned titles, and shows its age from subsequent ZC updates, it’s still really excellent, and includes the scripted, original storyline and custom bosses that set these elite quests apart from the run-of-the-mill. The overworld is vast and fun to explore, with some puzzles of its own. The dungeons are varied, well-themed and creative. My particular favorite is Level 7: Season Isle, but many others are highly enjoyable. The scripted dream sequences make for a more immersive and flowing story. The humorous, unconventional dialogue certainly helps to make this quest unique, though I recognize that it turns some people off as feeling “unprofessional.”
As I said, it’s not a perfect quest. It has an odd difficulty curve, trending on the easy side for most of the game (in terms of danger of losing all your life) but then this suddenly ramps up to extremely difficult round about Level 8. The life-challenging difficulty goes with some frustratingly tedious dungeon puzzles near the end, too. The later bosses are likely to take several attempts, but the lengthy textwall before each later boss makes it very frustrating to try to battle them again and again to figure out how to defeat them. The item screen feels “messy” due to the fact that not all item slots are filled. And the fact that the Cave of Ordeals was pretty much intended to be unbeatable is frustrating to me as someone who likes to 100% his quests. These factors tend to demotivate me to actually finish the entire game. Other than the endgame portion, though, it’s an excellent quest, and is certainly good enough to merit a 5-star rating.
The Hero of Dreams
Overview
Feature Quest
Creator:
Shoelace
Genre: Story-driven
Added: 27 Mar 2006
Updated: 18 Mar 2015
ZC Version: 2.10
Downloads: 5455
Rating[?]:
|
Download Quest (3.94 MB) |
Information
The Hero of Dreams, my first quest on Zelda Classic. Released in 2006, this epic quest is filled with so many things to do. I put a lot of side quests in the quest so it can have a feel to most Zelda games. The storyline fits into the major storyline and I do try to connect them all together. I spent a lot of time on the storyline and I hope you like it.
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Bill Nye the Russian Spy
Posted 10 December 2016 - 06:56 PM
Alright, now that I'm finally done with this...
Overall, I enjoyed this quest a fair bit, but I don't think it lived up to the hype. True, some of its flaws are products of an older engine, but I've played a few other 2.10 quests that managed to work around those better than this one did.
I'll start with something the engine had nothing to do with: the dungeon design. As others before me have noted, Levels 1 and 4 were far too large and sprawling - I had to redo all of Level 4 after dying to the boss, and I ended up putting the quest down for months because it felt too monotonous even when I knew which way to go. (Level 2 was also a bit on the big side, but it was more enjoyable than those two on account of the size being more justified and put to better use.) Level 7 had the opposite problem: ironically, despite having the most intricate quirk, it felt the most linear. Throughout that dungeon, there was always only one way you could go to progress, and you only needed each new item in one place. (This was another one I had to do twice, but I breezed through it the second time, and it wasn't as bad.) Level 9 was also linear, but, given its nature, it fit much better than Level 7 in my opinion; similarly, Level 8, while large and branching (not to mention brutal at times), was much more fun than Levels 1 and 4 because it was more difficult to get lost in. On a more general note, none of the dungeon maps (subscreen or top bar) seemed accurate in terms of door locations, even accounting for secrets; I don't know whether that was intentional, but I wasn't a fan of it. (Final nitpick: those parts in various dungeons with the switches you need to step on before they sink? I've seen that kind of puzzle in a number of other older quests, but every one of them would be better without it, and this is no exception.)
Next up: the overworld. Probably one of the best I've seen, and definitely the best aspect of the quest. The unused squares bother me a bit, but I understand why they're there. The sidequests were welcome inclusions.
As for the music: I found the inclusion of some non-VG music (I noticed Dream On and Iris) a bit unorthodox, but a welcome idea... if only they fit where they played. Those two stuck out like sore thumbs to me in Level 1 and the end credits, respectively. I don't recall any other issues of this sort, though, and the rest of the music selection was alright. (I don't recognize the Hyrule Field tune, but it sounds like a pop song - if it is, it's a good example of the non-VG approach done right.)
The writing had so much more potential than what was used here. The plot, which I won't spoil, was great, but the dialogue was downright cringeworthy, especially most of what came out of Link's mouth. I'd have given the quest a perfect score (so to speak) in this department were it not for the countless poor attempts at humor. Geico jokes and forced Hollywood references do not belong in Zelda games, fanmade or otherwise.
The gameplay and combat... Most of the custom bosses were cool, especially given the technical limitations, and the difficulty curve was much better than what I'm used to in ZC. That said, this is where the quest really shows its age.
Overall, I enjoyed this quest a fair bit, but I don't think it lived up to the hype. True, some of its flaws are products of an older engine, but I've played a few other 2.10 quests that managed to work around those better than this one did.
I'll start with something the engine had nothing to do with: the dungeon design. As others before me have noted, Levels 1 and 4 were far too large and sprawling - I had to redo all of Level 4 after dying to the boss, and I ended up putting the quest down for months because it felt too monotonous even when I knew which way to go. (Level 2 was also a bit on the big side, but it was more enjoyable than those two on account of the size being more justified and put to better use.) Level 7 had the opposite problem: ironically, despite having the most intricate quirk, it felt the most linear. Throughout that dungeon, there was always only one way you could go to progress, and you only needed each new item in one place. (This was another one I had to do twice, but I breezed through it the second time, and it wasn't as bad.) Level 9 was also linear, but, given its nature, it fit much better than Level 7 in my opinion; similarly, Level 8, while large and branching (not to mention brutal at times), was much more fun than Levels 1 and 4 because it was more difficult to get lost in. On a more general note, none of the dungeon maps (subscreen or top bar) seemed accurate in terms of door locations, even accounting for secrets; I don't know whether that was intentional, but I wasn't a fan of it. (Final nitpick: those parts in various dungeons with the switches you need to step on before they sink? I've seen that kind of puzzle in a number of other older quests, but every one of them would be better without it, and this is no exception.)
Next up: the overworld. Probably one of the best I've seen, and definitely the best aspect of the quest. The unused squares bother me a bit, but I understand why they're there. The sidequests were welcome inclusions.
As for the music: I found the inclusion of some non-VG music (I noticed Dream On and Iris) a bit unorthodox, but a welcome idea... if only they fit where they played. Those two stuck out like sore thumbs to me in Level 1 and the end credits, respectively. I don't recall any other issues of this sort, though, and the rest of the music selection was alright. (I don't recognize the Hyrule Field tune, but it sounds like a pop song - if it is, it's a good example of the non-VG approach done right.)
The writing had so much more potential than what was used here. The plot, which I won't spoil, was great, but the dialogue was downright cringeworthy, especially most of what came out of Link's mouth. I'd have given the quest a perfect score (so to speak) in this department were it not for the countless poor attempts at humor. Geico jokes and forced Hollywood references do not belong in Zelda games, fanmade or otherwise.
The gameplay and combat... Most of the custom bosses were cool, especially given the technical limitations, and the difficulty curve was much better than what I'm used to in ZC. That said, this is where the quest really shows its age.
- First, grid-locked movement (as opposed to 8-directional) and the Flippers do not mix. Combining them effectively creates horizontal "walls" wherever water and solid ground meet along a vertical edge. This has gotten me killed, and it shouldn't happen.
- Second, regular use of moving Mirrorrobes is a no-no. I can accept them once or twice as obstacles (as in Level 6), but they are not regular enemies and shouldn't be treated as such, especially - again - without 8-directional movement.
- Third, a few specific bosses were cheap. I considered the Spirit Rangers the most difficult, but the difficulty in that fight was genuine. If you died, it was (usually) your fault. This was not the case for King Dodongo or the final boss. King Dodongo will sometimes start inhaling and then stop in less time than it takes for a bomb to explode, which doesn't give you enough time to hide from the ensuing attack (which is usually lethal). The first few phases of the final boss fight include a flame wall attack that's usually unavoidable unless you know where you need to be before he appears and starts charging it (which isn't always the same place), and the second-last one includes a sword attack with zero warning as to where he's going to strike. (As an aside, bomb attacks don't fit him - couldn't he have used something energy-based instead?) When the only way to win a fight is to memorize exactly where and when attacks like these will start (or, in this case, use either a glitch or an optional item), that's bad design.
- Finally, the Cave of Ordeals suffers even more from the problem of "fake difficulty" than do either of the aforementioned bosses. Part of this is the fault of the lack of 8-directional movement (can you tell how much I value that?
), but it's mostly because of the frequent appearance later on of Cracktoroks (which wouldn't be so bad but for the Fire Boomerang's trail hindering its ability to stun them), moving Mirrorrobes, and L3 Patras, sometimes on the same floor. Eagle Hell was... well, hellish (as it should be, being a bonus dungeon), but, like the Spirit Rangers, it was fair. There was always a way to win. 100 floors without checkpoints is too many for something like that.
- Shoelace likes this
SacredHooves
Posted 01 September 2016 - 05:51 PM
This one is long over due: and yes I am aware that this is over ten years old, but we need to talk.
So the only thing that kept me going at one point while playing this both blind and hoping to disprove the negativity it was being told to me: the story. The concept of the story was rather well thought out at first: and then a lovely thing called Part 4 started....for sake of spoilers I wont get into it.
The graphics are rather nice for the standard at the time, but this really needs a DX release or a re-polishing altogether. This will help flesh out the following problems that I came up with:
Pathways are too in-consistent either with or without clues
Music that drains you after hearing it for over five minutes (and when you get lost this timer adds up faster)
Confusing puzzles that seemed easy become a disappointment when the player solves them
Level design that left you scratching your head about where to go.
Rather Arse-tastic blockings making you spend more time than wanted in some areas
That's not even my biggest gripe though: it falls into the every so wonderful gauntlet of complete-a-thon chores to find one dungeon item to get the next. This in itself is a trope that should NEVER exist because then the player begins to feel tricked that they got the Boomerang for the soul purpose of getting the raft (example not true)
With that in mind folks: I give this a 1/5 stars for one soul reason only: It only got cheap because of the bad layout and mapping: if that wasnt an issue tied in with everything else I said: Id be willing to go 4/5
So the only thing that kept me going at one point while playing this both blind and hoping to disprove the negativity it was being told to me: the story. The concept of the story was rather well thought out at first: and then a lovely thing called Part 4 started....for sake of spoilers I wont get into it.
The graphics are rather nice for the standard at the time, but this really needs a DX release or a re-polishing altogether. This will help flesh out the following problems that I came up with:
Pathways are too in-consistent either with or without clues
Music that drains you after hearing it for over five minutes (and when you get lost this timer adds up faster)
Confusing puzzles that seemed easy become a disappointment when the player solves them
Level design that left you scratching your head about where to go.
Rather Arse-tastic blockings making you spend more time than wanted in some areas
That's not even my biggest gripe though: it falls into the every so wonderful gauntlet of complete-a-thon chores to find one dungeon item to get the next. This in itself is a trope that should NEVER exist because then the player begins to feel tricked that they got the Boomerang for the soul purpose of getting the raft (example not true)
With that in mind folks: I give this a 1/5 stars for one soul reason only: It only got cheap because of the bad layout and mapping: if that wasnt an issue tied in with everything else I said: Id be willing to go 4/5
If you guys are interested here is the link:
