Holy cow are these dungeons intricate. I know that we stopped voting for categories and whatnot, but assuming there will still be a final review for all of the quest entries, this quest should get recognized for the complexity of its dungeons.
Assuming you can dodge red wizzrobes, if you don't want to grind rupees, you can ignore the old man who instructs you to get a magic shield before level 1. After you finish level 1, having fought several rooms of ropes, you should likely have sufficient rupees.
In level 1 you'll start to see some of the complexity I mentioned. There are several keys to collect and multiple stairway passages. There are several rooms that, like the room directly above the whistle's room in the second quest, only allow north-south movement or east-west movement. Much of the dungeon complexity is due to the location of these rooms. Levels 2-6 will feature much of the same, but increasing in complexity.
I like the 4-child Patra as the level 1 boss (though from reading the earlier posts, thank you for disabling that room's stone statues!)
I like how you mixed the enemy groups from the Zelda 1 defaults. If I remember correctly, your groupings are roughly as follows:
Levels 1, 5, 6, 9 - wizzrobes, ropes, vires
Levels 2, 4, 7 - goriyas, stalfos, like-likes
Levels 3, 8 - gibdos, pols voice, darknuts
On the way to level 2, I'm not really a fan of forcing the player to explore with only the blue candle, as I feel it can be a tedious process. Why not give the red candle in level 1? If you're worried that level 8 gets uncovered too early, I think you've hidden it well enough that the risk is minimal. Plus, level 8 is on the complete opposite side of the world as level 2 (also, exploring in level 8 too early will very likely get you killed). Placing the wand in level 7 would be appropriate instead of the red candle.
I think you should get rid of the messages "dodongo dislikes smoke", "digdogger hates certain kind of sound", etc. I know they were used in the fourth quest, but they basically function as empty rooms.
Levels 5 and 6 are, imo, the most difficult dungeons of this quest, both in terms of complexity and in terms of the enemy difficulty given the player's available equipment. I died several times during level 6, even with red potions. The bosses of those two dungeons, each with stone statues and bubbles, will test your endurance.
I see from earlier posts that your reasoning for hiding the ladder was meant to mimic the hiding of the raft in the second quest. While I can agree with your intentions (several quests hid some secrets behind the triforce), I'm not really a fan of how you implemented this feature. Unlike level 4 in the second quest, the rooms above the triforce are not on the map. And if you don't have the 50 rupees (assuming you don't want to surrender a HC), repeating the steps to the level 6 boss is much harder than level 4 in the second quest. (But hey, maybe that might be a steep enough price for players to willingly give up a HC).
Levels 7 and 8 tone things down a bit in terms of complexity. There aren't nearly as many north-south or east-west rooms as levels 1-6. But by no means do I mean that they are pushovers; they're still big dungeons with several keys to collect. Now the boss key functions as a big key - it doesn't only grant access to the boss. Level 8 contains a different type of complexity in that there are a lot of one-way permanent shutters. The small keys in level 8 have potential to serve as decoys from the wand and book.
I didn't get hit by any of the new green like-likes, so I must ask what distinguished them from the standard like-likes. They both take 3 magic sword hits. Do the green ones hit harder?
While there may have been a slight decrease in complexity in levels 7-8, the final dungeon's complexity wraps up the quest appropriately. The enemy difficulty picks up nicely as well, featuring red bubbles that charge at you as well as two endurance-testing Gohma battles. I was a bit puzzled that the maroon-colored firerobes made flames that were blockable by the shield; since they require the same number of hits and deal the same damage as the firerobes in level 6, they're technically easier enemies (though in level 9, usually there are other strong enemies accompanying the firerobes).
Overall, this is a very solid quest and a strong contest competitor. I can't quite say that this is my favorite of the 5th quest entries, but it certainly deserves consideration as one of the better competitors. The dungeon complexity is easily the highlight of this quest, and it's so good that it could carry the quest. Well done.
