I've got a whole bunch of ideas:
- Map-Style overworld, kinda like in many of the Final Fantasy games (see my post in Dev. Exchange);
- Whistle becomes the "Staff of Change", which does different effects depending on the location;
-You start out in a burning house (if you tested my old game, you know what I mean). I've found that a good game always start at a certain level of excitement, to "strap in" the player (have you ever played Golden Sun? See what I mean?);
- An item (one of the "fake items" -i've forgotten their name...) that shows you in which general direction the next dungeon is in.
- A possibility of a sequel at the end.
I don't want to give too much away, so you'll have to rest with that.
Also, is a good Quest always hard? because DWR was so hard I lost interest in the second level.