Janine's Quest Pack

[Matthew Bluefox]

Hi everyone! Jane and I have finished the second quest, so we're now releasing both quests in a double pack. Included are the two QST files, some sweet screenshots, a readme file (not just for those ones who don't know how to install a quest), and three MIDI files.

Have fun and please read the "Readme.txt" to get all the info Jane and I want to tell you about the quest pack. Until the quest pack is validated in the QDB, you can download it at the source link, located at the following address:

http://wr2.vfusion.de/Lotz/jane.zip

~ Matt

[ms_zelda_lady]

Wow that was finished fast. I'm downloading it to play later. I'll be finishing Reclamation first and then I'll take a stab at it.

[Matthew Bluefox]

Thanks for staying loyal to the Janine quests. :)

[Token]

The difficulty level has gone way up, level-7 was in a real unexpected place. BTW nice soundtrack

[Matthew Bluefox]

Wow, just say you've already beaten it ... and found Level 7 so quickly ... you're an ace! Did you like the Stalfos in Level 7? :)

Edit: The whistle warp might have helped. ;)

[Token]

No, I am just at level 3 but was searching for Heart Containers when I found level 7. Though I have seen Stalfos 3 before in another quest, a very dangerous enemy. I hope to finish it tomorrow, at least if I can find something to burn those strange bushes.

[Token]

I don't know whether it is supposed to be like this, but in level 3 you can get to the Boss without the Boss key

[Matthew Bluefox]

Yes, butt if you do the boss without boss key, you won't get the special item. ;)

Edit: I found two bugs in the first quest, very small ones. In Level 7, the golden boomerang just appears without having to kill the enemies first. And on the overworld, you can find one bonus cave (30 rupees) with the flute just next to the lost woods on the very left edge of the map (one room above the most south-western point). There are no stairs, just a cave entrance and that's just in the middle of nothing. Looks quite strange. And there's no message string from the Moblin when you enter the cave. All these bugs have been fixed in my version which I'll upload tomorrow, butt I won't request another update for the QDB. Just so you know.

~ Matt

[Crackers]

How many hearts do you need to get the white sword in quest 2? I have six. It use to be just 5.

[Token]

7 for the White Sword, 14 for the Magic

[Token]

I think I have a problem here, in level 7 i picked up a key in the northeastern part and used it in the northwestern part and beated the boss, but I cannot go up at the entrance since I need another key

[Token]

How am I supposed to beat level 8, those sword-throwing Darknuts are way to difficult. They take away about 5 hearts on contact with the Red Ring, unbeatable.

[Matthew Bluefox]

I've beaten them all and I am far away from a pro yet. There is only one Deathknight per room, in the last room there are three. As for the keys, I've tested the game and I had just enough keys to get everywhere. I counted the keys and the locked doors in level seven, it's three each. :)

By the way, the source link (see top post) has been renewed. It's the same link, butt the file is new. It's containing the bug-fixes in the first quest on the overworld (flute stairs), level seven (enemies --> item was missing once) and level eight (stairs color wrongly set first in one room).

[Crackers]

Where is lv4, which is where I need to go, and lv6? Have explored where I can but cannot find either of them.

[Token]

level 4 first or second quest?

[Token]

Matthew my apologies the key problem was my own fault, there wasn't any but how did you beat those Death Knights?

[Crackers]

Sorry, 2nd quest.

[Matthew Bluefox]

The fourth level in the second quest is one screen left to the apparent most north-eastern screen (the one where you have the secret stairs through the rock) with the blue Tektite enemies. Bomb the right upper part to reveal the Level 4 entrance. Level 6 can only be found with super bombs. The apparent entrance is marked red (super bombs only). Since there are only a few such places, you'll find it for sure. It's in the north-western part (Death Mountain area) above the graveyard.

PS: The original first quest is still in the database, can someone please remove it? The quest pack is replacing the first quest file. Thanks again.

PPS: And for the one who gave the quest pack a rating of zero hearts on the database: Have you really played the quest pack (both quests) already or do you just give bad ratings to all quests? I'm just curious. I guess the one who I'm talking about won't reply here.

[Token]

Does anyone have an idea on how to beat those Deathknights?

[Crackers]

Wow, how did you get so far Token. I tried lv5 and it beat me so decided to try lv6 and the same thing. Getting pretty hard. I need to find another sword. This white one isn't good enough. Some hints please? I have 14 hearts.

[Token]

If you think it was hard so far, just wait until you meet the Death Knights in level 8. The master sword is where the white sword was in the original. And to tackle those wizzrobes, buy the mirror shield and use the fire boomerang, it makes the whole quest a lot easier.

[Matthew Bluefox]

Good tips from Token, indeed. The fire (in this version more like a golden) boomie can either be bought for 250 rupies or gotten for "lau" in Level 4 after beating ten blue foxes with boomies (Goriyas). If you have 14 HC's, I strongly recommend to get the magic sword. Makes things a lot easier for you. :)

The mirror shield is a MUST for Level 6 anyway, otherwise you can't get to the boss.

[Crackers]

I hate to say it but I give up. I've died so many times in lv6 that I am no longer having fun. I don't enjoy quests that are so hard that I just keep going through the same level over and over and if I get lucky I beat it. You have way to many enemies in the rooms and along with fireballs it's just too hard. For that reason I rated it a 4 and will say that the "better" players will love it.

[Token]

Level 6 was still okay-ish with the fire-boomerang, mirror shield and the Magic sword, and level 7 was doable too, especially with the red ring, but I have given up as well, 3 deathknights is too much for me without the master sword. A good quest but only for the most advanced.

[Matthew Bluefox]

Okay, here's a trick how you can beat the DK's in Level 8, and any other sort of Darknut's: Just slash into the wall with the sword when the darknuts cum to you. You'll always hit them since they can't face you from downwards. If you're quick enuff, you can even go to the side after having hit them. So you won't even get a loss of energy! With the magic sword, the blue darknuts take only two hits. With the master sword (which you should already have in Level 8), they only take one!

I can understand if Level 8 is too hard if you don't have the master sword (which is located in the north-eastern part of the graveyard, old location of magic sword in classic). You need 21 HC's for it though, and if you got all HC's on the OW and the dungeons, you should be at 21 before entering Level 8.

As for Level 6: What Token said ... you need fire boomie and mirror shield. I am not a pro, not at all, butt I managed to beat Level 6 and also Level 8 ... of course with all items that can be bought or taken until then.

I hope people won't give Jane's quest pack a bad rating just because the second quest is a bit harder than the first quest. I've beaten it without any cheats, there aren't even any. And trust me, I've also had my problems when I was on Level 6. I've even easified Level 6 a bit (one room had too many red bubbles and wind wizzies) before making the final release. I had to do Level 6 about twenty times first, and after the easification, I needed just five times to get through. Of course it's not funny if you have to do the same level five times, butt after you've beaten it, you're much happier! Trust me.

[Token]

21 HC's in level 8? I only have 20, 2 raft, 2 ladder, one superbomb. 7 normal in the levels and one in the desert, 3 starters and some gotten in earlier levels. Are you supposed to burn those strange bushes?

Level 6 is definately doable though, took me 2 or 3 tries.

[Crackers]

Okay, I'll give it another try tonight. Where is the red candle? I never did find it.

I felt that 4 was a good rating because not everyone will be able to play it. I consider that an important element when I rate quests. You still did a good job.

[Matthew Bluefox]

Well, someone gave both 1st (shouldn't be online anymore on QDB *lol*) and the pack a 0 heart reating, I saw that. I guess it must have been a troll. *lol*

Yes, Token, 21 ... did you find the last HC? The red bushes have to be burnt with the RED candle. The BLUE candle doesn't work on them. The red bush that's on the original quest's HC location (red candle usage) reveals your 21st HC and then you can get the master sword. Try Level 8 again and you'll hopefully succeed. :)

[Crackers]

So where is the red candle?

I'm sorry you got a zero rating but it wasn't from me. I thought your quest was good. :) I tried to give you a comment but that wasn't working. I didn't rate the first quest. Don't take it to heart. A lot of people rate quests just by looking at the screen shots. :( Too bad you can't tell who is rating them.

[Matthew Bluefox]

I know. And thanks to other raters, the overall rating is still at 3 out of 5 hearts which is pretty good. Thanks to all who rated it with deep thought, even when the rating was just 1 or 2 hearts, butt with some thought to it.

The red candle is - classically - in Level 7, along with the fire boomerang and the red ring and a second heart container. Yes, FOUR special items in Level 7! Go for them! :D

[AlphaDawg]

Well, I just played through your 1st quest... very enjoyable old-school style romp. It took me about five hours and five deaths to finish. It wasn't terribly difficult in my opinion. I'll start on your second quest shortly.

Don't sweat Quest DB ratings. Take it from one who knows. ;) Just reply to anyone expressing concerns here and you'll be fine.

A couple of suggestions... first, use CSet 3 to color your dark rooms. As it is now all of the tiles and blocks are visible even though the room is dark. Second, in the rooms where you're required to purchase bomb upgrades to continue, don't have the door shut behind Link. I had to fast-quit twice to escape those because I didn't have enough money.

I think I found one bug in the overworld. On screen 0C the shop doesn't work. Also, are you using Flag #15 in your Zelda room to trigger the end game sequence? I see the end strings and that's it.

[Token]

Matthew, I am positive that I found the Fire Boomerang in level 4 in the 2nd quest.

[Matthew Bluefox]

Yes, in the second quest, you can find it in Level 4. In the first one, it's in Level 7.

Alphadawg, I had corrected the flag 15 missings in both quest before I have read your post just now. I will upload the corrected quests to my source site, butt I won't request a re-upload to the QDB since it's something minor.

About the dark rooms, I know about that mistake, butt I decided not to fix them all, it would be too much of effort just for a minor effect. I don't like dark rooms anyway, I should take them out entirely.

PS: Update has been uploaded to the source site (view first post).

[Matthew Bluefox]

Okay, I have taken one final go at all dark rooms in the levels. I didn't fix the under combo for dark rooms since the fields look exactly the same and usually you lit up the room first before you can move a stone. All rooms in first and second quest are now really dark, so you will have to lit them up to see what's going on.

Magic is now also enabled, butt unfortunately, there is no magic bar yet for version 2.10, however there is a sound for filling up the magic energy, so you are actually using the energy, just not seeing how much you have left. There is one magic container in each level from 1 up to 8. In Level 5 (first quest) or in Level 6 (second quest), you can now find a magic upgrade chamber to cut the energy drainage to half.

The newest file is already uploaded. :)

[Token]

Is the Red Candle in the 2nd quest also in level 7?

[Matthew Bluefox]

Yes, it is, along with the red ring.

[AlphaDawg]

Well, after 6.5 hours and 14 deaths I finished your second quest. This one was definitely harder, but still manageable.

I must say I was really let down by Level 9 though. It was virtually identical to Level 9 in the first quest, save for much tougher enemies.

Also constantly updating a "completed" quest is bad form in my opinion. I'm not going to replay a quest just because it has magic in it now. Leave these quests as they are (save for any critical bugfixes) and save any new ideas for future quests.

[Matthew Bluefox]

Yeah, butt it takes a lot of time to make new quests, so Jane always wants to put in her ideas into the existing quest. And it's not even sure yet if there will be magic, I guess it's not in the editor for 2.10 at all.

About Level 9 ... Jane has run out of ideas, so she decided to make new enemies, butt keep close to all rooms identical to reach a high room number.

[AlphaDawg]

Ah... more ideas will come to you in time, I guarantee it.

Magic's been implemented since at least the 1.92 betas as far as I know. For example, Peteo's MM: DWR uses magic, and that quest is designed for 1.92 Beta 183.

It's kind of tricky to implement the magic meter. I recommend opening one of the example quests packed with ZC and see how it's done there. Perhaps you can import the tiles from there as well.

[Matthew Bluefox]

We've decided to keep magic out entirely. It's too complicated for me and also for Jane, so I talked her into taking magic out. However, we're working on an upgrade for both quests to be turned into 2.11 (beta) quests with custom enemy CSets and even more custom item CSets ... AND ... with four heart container piece bonus caves (not just a single cave room, it will be filled with enemies and four rooms before you get to the HC piece)! To compensate for the one more HC you can get, I've taken out the four HC pieces in Level 9, so you can't get no more HC at all in Level 9.

I can tell you, it won't be easy to find all four HC piece bonus caves. And those caves (specially the last one) are no easy ones for pure beginners. For advanced players, they're fairly easy though, some blue wizzies and stuff ... easy, uh? :) Once we've finished the 2.11 version, I'll let the QDB managament know to remove both elder upload entries from Jane and me.

[Token]

Is there a map in level 8? It's the only thing that is missing in my item collection.

[Matthew Bluefox]

In the updated version there is a map, yes. It was forgotten in the very first version. Sorry about that.

[AlphaDawg]

While we're on the subject of missing items, I never found the power bracelet or the gold ring in the first quest (if in fact they are there). Luckily I didn't need either of them to finish the quest.

I realized early on that no map of Level 8 in the second quest would be needed, as it appeared to be a Nightmare-style linear slugfest. I'm OK with linear slugfests in moderation. Seeing two levels in a row like that was really disappointing.

[Token]

The power bracelet was definately there, didn't find the gold ring and golden arrow either

[Token]

The shop in the north of Hyrule in the 1st quest does not sell any items, you just see a rupee and an X

[Matthew Bluefox]

Yes, that is also an old small bug that had been fixed in a later version,

@ Alpha: We are aware of that and in the 2.50 version, the ninth level of the first quest will have a unique shape and there will no more be a second quest, butt the first one will become a bit more difficult. Something like a mix between first and second.

The bracelet is the secret item of Level 1 in the first quest. The golden ring is in Level 9 in one of the dark rooms with three block lines and some statues.

[AlphaDawg]

The bracelet is the secret item of Level 1 in the first quest. The golden ring is in Level 9 in one of the dark rooms with three block lines and some statues.Duh, I can't believe I missed the bracelet! I'll go find the golden ring shortly.

If I may offer another suggestion... change the Dungeon Foreground Misc Color setting to anything not using CSet 2. (Change it back to the default 03 if possible.) As it is now, sometimes the dungeon map is virtually invisible.

[Matthew Bluefox]

Actually I like that, because if you're in a dark room, you're not supposed to see the map. And if the map uses CSet 2, the color adapts to the color of the dungeon. :)

[Matthew Bluefox]

Okay, I post this as a new post to let people know why the two quests have been removed from the QDB: The new version that will ONLY be COMPATIBLE with ZC 2.50 (780) or higher, will be uploaded within the next few days. I wanna test it hard first to not have any more mistakes when I upload it. I don't like doing so many updates after a release. :lol: