Tough and challenging puzzlewise, but I had fun the whole way though! Very unique and innovative designs coupled with an interesting story.
My only gripe is that the dungeons design feels a little a bit too empty when it comes to enemies, but the puzzles are there to make it up.
Should've reviewed this earlier. But great job!

Boy, this was a wild ride, I just cleared this in around 17-ish hours and managed to get the bonus dungeon completed. I gotta say, there is an insane amount of effort that went into this in terms of puzzles and the quest in general. There are a few setbacks though which did bring down the experience for me which I'll explain later.

To start off with, this is definitely your best quest and compared to all your other works, I actually did enjoy myself quite a lot this time round. Nothing felt like it dragged on too long, despite the later dungeons being fairly massive (I had no idea City in the Sky was so big, yet it felt so fast, which is great). The puzzles in general have improved quite a lot too, at least for the main game. They seem to make a lot more sense this time, and while they were still very challenging to solve, there were at least some kind of sufficient hints to make me understand what's happening (for the most part). I can't say this for most of the bonus content though, but I'll explain that a bit later. But yeah, a lot of the main game puzzles were very interesting and creative, some I have never seen before in a ZC quest, so congrats on being very unique with this. I really like the idea of the custom bosses. Sure they aren't scripted, but in this case I didn't really care since they were pretty fun and creative and they weren't too hard either. However, I do feel like that one dragon boss could be re-worked a little, since I found the fireball spam sections to be incredibly difficult to avoid with such tiny space. You could probably try and allow more space in parts like that if it doesn't break the puzzle aspect of the boss. While I'm at it, the story in general was pretty interesting, and I liked the idea of the allies system which is definitely cool (even if they are just reskinned items). Items in general were used very well, and they seemed to be used almost everywhere which is great. I just wish the cloak item was used a lot more, that seemed to be the only thing that was used in just one dungeon and then was forgotten about. I would've expected some cool puzzles to be made out of it elsewhere, but I didn't see anything which was a bit sad to see.

There were a few setbacks and issues I did have with the quest. The big thing for me is the design of the overworld. Dungeons were designed pretty nicely graphics-wise but for me it felt like the overworld got a little empty or lazy in some parts. A good example is the Gerudo Desert area, which wasn't designed very well IMO. I get what you were going for, but it wasn't too good to look at. You could definitely try and spice things up a bit, maybe spread out the bones a bit so it doesn't look unnatural for one, and maybe have like an oasis or something. I dunno, anything would work really lol. But yeah I would definitely advise going back through some overworld places and maybe refining some details and making some places look a bit less "samey", just to make the overworld a bit prettier. Moving on from that, I won't go much into the combat side of the quest, since I know this isn't the purpose of the quest, though I do admit that like with all your other quests, a bit more enemy variety would be nice to see rather than having like the same set of enemies on a screen at once (and then having only one or two of them). Of course you don't need to go mad with this and start filling everything up since puzzles are definitely more of your thing from the quest and I respect that, but it would've been cool to see some enemy mixes here and there and maybe a wider range of enemies to use, just to make some parts a bit more lively (especially in the overworld regions).

Moving on to the main thing of the quest, which is puzzles. I already talked about these, but I wasn't fond of some puzzles in particular, especially the optional ones. It's good that these weren't required, so I'm not too annoyed by them, but I do feel like there were some that didn't seem to follow any logic. A good example is that one puzzle before the master sword dungeon. If I weren't told what was going on there probably would've been no way I could've figured it out since I don't think I would've ever realised they were intended to be based off the first 3 dungeons, though looking back it does make sense now, but I just wish it was hinted a bit better. Another thing is the floor tile puzzles where you have to walk along a path. There were one or two I understood (though I did ask for help first), but the one in City in the Sky was pretty damn obscure. I got it eventually from reading threads, but I would've never guessed you could find matching paths elsewhere in the dungeon, especially since everything looks the same and there is no extra decorations hinting things. I guess I can see what was going on now with the paths making a straight line which resembles what you need to do in that one room with the massive square of tiles, but seeing how I saw similar design styles elsewhere in the dungeon, it was super easy to miss that for me and so it made it unnecessarily harder. I guess it is my fault for not listening to the sign at the very beginning which warns me about the dungeon, but tbh maybe just a slightly better hint would've been nice. I also didn't like some of the timed puzzles throughout the main quest. They were very cool and all, but some became a bit frustrating since you need to have almost perfect precision, which was super hard to do and became frustrating really quickly. Biggest example is the blue lava segment in the final dungeon, which became really difficult because of how fast the pools drain and raise again, maybe making them just a bit slower would've allowed for a bit more freedom and won't get you overly stressed. Also, I noticed a bit of an inconsistency with some other timed puzzles. I noticed that some number puzzles (the ones that count down) don't seem to hurt you, like near the start of Dragon's Cave, though others do (like the boss key of Dragon's Cave I believe?). I feel like it would be better to make all of these kind of puzzles not hurt you if possible, just to make things more consistent and not end up killing you while experimenting with the puzzle, which almost happened several times, especially in that one boss key room where you can get yourself trapped between the 0 and 1 and take forced damage for it, which isn't good design IMO. That's just my personal opinion at least, but all the other puzzles that weren't mentioned were fine.

I think that's everything, so yeah I had quite a bit of fun playing this. Some of the overworld could be brushed up a bit, and some puzzles could use a bit more obvious hints or could be made slightly easier, but generally it was solid and for the most part it was pretty well done and creative. I'll give this one a 3.5/5, which rounds up to a 4. Pretty good work! Looking forward to any more future stuff from you two, this is a pretty big step up from your previous quests and I'm excited to see how your quest making grows further.

Herald of Heroes does something pretty uncommon in the ZC universe: skillfully balancing an unorthodox story line with good old labyrinthine dungeon grinding. I say "dungeon grinding" here, because the dungeons are pretty deplete of combat, but instead contain so many puzzles, it might make your head spin. Off the top of my head, HoH is very much like Eiyuu, Lost Isle and A Tribute to Yeto's Quest in this balance of plot with bewildering, puzzle-filled dungeon mechanics that are not immediately obvious how to progress through. Make no mistake, if you don't want to wander in circles, get frustrated, or seriously think outside of the box - for possibly 3-4 hours or more to complete a dungeon - this isn't the quest for you. If you like that sort of thing, then boy, are you in luck.

The storyline here I mention is pretty unorthodox; it's not quite a "save the world," or "rescue the princess" type of bland affair, but more in the vain of an insurgency against a kleptocratic regime. Like so many other great despots in history, Ganon has instilled legitimacy and rule over the people not by force, but by economic domination under the threat of force. This Ganon isn't so much a cartoon villain as he is elsewhere, but more of a micromanaging, tin-pot dictator caricature. The story, stemming from this premise, is thus laid out in smooth progression with lots of cut scenes. Instead of getting some tangible reward for completing a dungeon, you advance the story instead. I like that sort of story telling, as instead of requiring an arbitrary item to advance in the quest, you need to advance the story instead. This makes HoH pretty much a linear quest, but the linear progression seems natural. The dialogue is pretty well edited and NPCs are abundant and sometimes useful. There are not so many sidequests to do, but exploration is rewarded in other ways. Factored into the storyline are allies who double as your means to use certain items. I'm surprised I've never seen this sort of thing implemented more. I mean, how does Link carry around all of that stuff in every other Zelda game ever without being weighed down and encumbered like a turtle? Doesn't it make a lot of sense to split the gear among a group - like in a military fireteam or squad?

Now, the stars of HoH are the bewildering, out-of-the-box caves and dungeons. Therein lies the challenge of HoH, and the quest is challenging for this reason. Be prepared to use your whole array of item trickery - like hookshot immunity tricks, precise boomerang craft, clever use of bait, reaching out and touching things with the hammer, and more. Don't attempt to play HoH with a keyboard - you will need a gamepad of some sort to make precise, quick, and deliberate moves against the clock. Have a piece of paper to take notes on, and you WILL need to take screenshots, because HoH does not have a spacebar map. I was a little worried going into this quest, based on the lack of spacebar maps being mentioned in the description - and knowing from Land of Anarchy and the Maze of Hyrule quests the dungeon maker's work. Surprisingly, the lack of spacebar maps wasn't much of an issue for me. Instead, mini-maps are implemented pretty effectively here. The music choices in the dungeons, caves, and overworlds are very original and catchy at times, but at other times, the tracks are the same music one has heard over and over from other Zelda games or ZC quests - kind of a mixed bag here.

Unfortunately, HoH does have a few minor issues that holds the quest back somewhat. The first is that the dungeon custom bosses are in the quirky ZC 1.92/2.10 style, and in my case, I had a tough time beating one of them due to a technical issue. Obviously the dungeons here aren't focused on combat, so don't expect some fancy, seamless scripted bosses. Don't expect a lot of enemy variety either, which isn't a big deal because I fully consider HoH more of a dungeon-grinding-puzzle quest than a dungeon romper. Combat against bosses and regular enemies was overall pretty easy, and I had no issues getting by with just the L-1 sword. The dungeons and caves do seem to be filled with a curious abundance of Keese, who are a recurring threat to knock your character into pitfalls, lava, or water, which is an annoyance rather than a difficulty booster. I also found at least one spot in which I became stuck and had to F6-continue. To the quest-makers credit, both of these game-compromising issues I mentioned were corrected promptly, and I legitimately only found one such tile error where I recall getting stuck. Some of the dialogue and themes are kind of corny, in line with some of the more modern official Zelda games, and I have to admit, I didn't get the sense of urgency that Ganon's regime must be crushed.

In summary, Herald of Heroes has a ton of effort, time, and hard work put into it, and it shows. I got a solid 21-hours of gameplay to beat the main story line. If you're looking for a new and offbeat sort of quest to play through, and you love running around dungeons like a laboratory rat in a cognitive experiment, HoH is the quest for you. I would say that HoH is almost well executed enough to be an official game marketed by Nintendo. I look forward to the post-game optional content and may edit this review some more upon completion of that. Well done, to the quest creators, because this is a 5-star quest and in my opinion, deserves a spot in the top-10 of Zelda Classic quests.

My only gripe with the quest is that your dungeon item tools you get are only really useful once you get them and then are never useful again (exceptions being Hookshot and Sandwich). There's no sideview areas after level 2 (asides from a single cave) to use the jump boots, and the dungeon item of level 5 (the prison) is never used again after the dungeon ends.

Where the music from Zora Prison came from ? also how can i find more keys ? i do checked on all possibles white points but i do find nothing or chests already opened and there's more locked block.

Insane challenge eh? I'm going to give this a shot and see if it really is a true challenge quest. I expect to be dying 50 million times - but still be possible at the end of the day. If this wins consensus acceptance by both the normal and challenge quest players then it would be the first quest in Zelda Classic history to do so and you two would be the undisputed best quest makers. Lets see how it goes.

Edit: I can't honestly say there's much challenge in your insane mode. I got to the red x room in the Zora prison with 4 step buttons and I got stuck there - can't activate the secret. But up to that point only 9 deaths. Buffing enemies by making them do more damage than normal is called a cheap buff - its not a true buff where the game is designed to be genuinely harder.