The first 8 minutes of gameplay

At last! Something approaching a functional demonstration!

For latecomers, here is your file: http://l.j-factor.com/zeldaclassic/NeoFirst_02.qst. (Requirements: build 743 or newer.)

This demo begins at the very start of the game, and ends when Link escapes with the level 1 sword. You explore a fairly short 'swordless' dungeon.

* The opening text is a tad cramped, owing to my crafty avoidance of gendered pronouns. I intend the narrator's identity to be ambiguous until the end of the game (whereupon it will go one of both ways.)
* All cutscenes are 100% scripted, and involve no screen warping. This is a standard I hope will be mostly maintained throughout the quest!
* Link starts with 10 rupees so that he can purchase one of the shop's item right away. Of course, the shop isn't built yet. Link's house is, but the sprite for Link's mother isn't.
* The forest is a very tricky place. Fairies love illusions, you know...
* Hey, you can talk to things with the A button! Like those brown birds. Or that pile of bones. And read the signs, too!
* Pay attention to the cave entrance screen. Is there anything else worth grabbing?
* You can't meet the Spirit of Winter until you get the Flippers and swim to the other entrance.
* If Link gets the medallion-shaped object, then the dungeon boss's life bar will be visible. Of course, there aren't any dungeon bosses this soon in the game.
* Spoilers: So that the player gets to use a never-before-seen item right away, I changed the level 1 candle into one of these things. I then replaced all of the "Blue Candle" flags and secret combos in the quest with "Red Candle" flags and secret combos, so that this new item's weapon can't be used to burn things down.
* With no bomb bags, Link's bomb capacity is exactly 1.
* Spoilers: "Moon Tower" is an tower in the Mystic Forest that is invisible on the outside. Legend has it that it extends all the way up to the stars. I intend it to be a place like Wind Waker's Labyrinth or the Paper Mario's Pit of 100 Trials - an enemy gauntlet. Also, a one-way portal from the Mirror/Chaos Realm is in B1F.

Q&A:

Q: Why is there ice in the water?
A: Because it's a Winter Garden!

Q: Well, why isn't there any snow?
A: It doesn't snow in caves, silly!

Q: Link doesn't seem very heroic.
A: In most tales, a hero is something that the protagonist becomes, not something that the protagonist is born into.

Some tileset changes of note:

* I made some sprites for the "Chaos Zol".
* I made the crystal orb tiles into 8-bit red and blue orbs.
* Added some combos that are used by various scripted elements.
* I don't like having to set a bunch of secret combos whenever I want to use "corner tall grass" combos. So, I've shifted around those combos and changed them into "Slash->Next (Item)" combos, in preparation for the time when the ability to make "Grass->Next" is implemented.
* Certain damage combos have been made solid. You can do that now.
* Some doors in some door combo sets have been fixed.

Tile shopping list:

Several parts of the quest use placeholder graphics. I intend some actual tile artists to create appetising replacements for the following:

* Link tile - Link holding onto the branches of that tree at the start.
* Spiderwebs for obstructing log tunnel entrances. (Minish Cap)
* Bomb flower item tile.
* Grass whistle item tile.
* Bee Smoker item tile.
* Bee Smoker's smoke tiles.
* Large floating ice tile.
* Magic mirror tiles.

Ooh, the scripts seem cool, when I get home I am SO going to play the quest. This is going to be fun. Nice work, _L_.

Okay, after you get the bee smoker, then what? I know you can use it to make the Sylphs visible and you use it to wake up the Dodongo. Where do you go next?

Is the tutorial aspect of neofirst still there? It was indeed the original intention of the project y'know. I also think we should show them some of the old tricks, just to prove that scripting is simply optional.

I know I sound like a n00b, but what version is this for? I tried 693 and it wouldn't open. I suspect, however, that the quest file may have downloaded improperly.

Rename it to NeoFirst.qst and it will work on 692 and 693.
And by the way, I really like this quest. Keep it up, guys.

I feel idiotic right now... where do I go? After getting to the screen with the save point, I get stuck.

Look for places to walk along the water.

Also look for walls you can walk through in the northern eastern portion of the cave. Pretty awesome stuff, L. I'll get you the graphics you'd like; Particularly the items. Also, absolutely awesome bees. (We so rarely get to say things like that. :p )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dark Nation

Okay, after you get the bee smoker, then what? I know you can use it to make the Sylphs visible and you use it to wake up the Dodongo. Where do you go next?

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Listen to the ghost next to the medallion-like object. It's southwest of the bee room, so to speak.

I can't get by the sylph guarding the medallion without cheating. Is there some trick to it?