I will preface this review by saying that I can't recall playing DFW's Fragments of Power, so have no frame of reference to how FoP: Reimagined compares.

FoP: R starts off at a very relaxed, if not slightly boring pace of difficulty and exploration, but really comes into its own towards the latter tiers of the quest. As a dungeon romper, the quest is slightly incomplete, because the earlier dungeons are all around quite easy and plain; however, the later dungeons up the challenge - both in terms of enemy and boss combat, as well as navigation. Still, I think it might be because the maps are rather small and many of the dungeon rooms are unimportant, I was left with a feeling of wanting more from the dungeons: more puzzles, more secrets, more windiness - I'm not completely sure. The stone beaks and accompanying hint statues are a good idea, though I have to admit the hints themselves are a bunch of "no duh" for the most part.

The dungeon bosses are all quite imaginative and well executed. While the earlier - albeit technically fancy - bosses are relative pushovers, the boss fights in the latter tiers are quite challenging and gratifying. To those ends, the difficulty curve of FoP: R is pretty logarithmic in my opinion. As said, the curve is pretty flat (easy) up to around level 5 or 6, where the difficulty starts to turn upward at a gradual pace. Then, all of a sudden, from perhaps the boss of level 8 through to the final boss, the difficulty shoots up into space so to speak. The boss fights, and difficulty as a whole, in level 8, through to the final boss - and accounting for sword and armor upgrades - are incomparable to any of the difficulty that came before. I would almost swear that there were two quest makers at play here were it not for the fact that the one quest maker claims to have done it all.

The overworld is quite well designed and replete with secrets to find. All of the different overworld sectors blend and flow together well to create a cohesive whole, and there are no glaring errors or questionable touches to my (perhaps undiscerning) eye. As sub-dungeons, to the end of obtaining a key in order to unlock the dungeon proper, the individual overworld sectors are a good idea. Still, much like the dungeons themselves, the overworld sectors up to around level 5-6 are comparably just not as interesting as what comes later. Early on, the overworld segments seem to consist of a simplistic series of 3-4 screens in order to find a key or switch, and the series is repeated a few more times until you find the dungeon key. Conversely, in order to access the later levels - especially levels 7 and 8.5 - the player has to do a fair bit of exploring. Still, I would say that the overworld is the highlight of the quest for me.

Music choices are also pretty good, from overworld sectors to individual dungeons, and are - for the most part - not just the same old Zelda-series songs we've all heard hundreds of times. Even the subscreen seems to be designed with thoughtfulness, as all the items (at end game) are arranged in such a way as to show organization amid a lot of empty space. I can also say that FoP: R is well play tested, as I can't recall running into any bugs or inconveniences that necessitate an F6>continue.

So, while I can tell there is a lot of thoughtfulness, good design, and attention to detail in FoP: R, there is also a fair bit of "meh" - almost entirely early on. I almost felt like giving up on the quest in the earlier parts, but am pretty glad I stuck with it, because the quest comes into its own at around the 1/2-2/3 point. I spent around 5.5 hours from beginning to end with being diligent about exploration and finding secrets.

Thank you for this beautiful quest

nice quest it plays so relaxed =D

Ok, I'm stuck (frustratingly so) in Level 8:

The triforce pieces (scales) are not showing on the subscreen.

Is this in any way endorsed by DFW? Just curious.