[5th Quest Entry] BtjCraft's 5th Quest Entry

[BtjCraft]

I sincerely apologize for the whole strings issue everyone, I have realized my mistakes, and I have just recently changed the original strings back to the defaults, so we no longer have to deal with that.

Nightmare, thanks for being honest and polite, I just don't like it when people explode.

Coyotek4, did you mean "erased" by: I erased it by my own free will, or the authorities(of any type) told me to erase it?(Or was that sarcastic?) Oh, and uh, I have gotten a couple benefits from Nightmare's review(personal benefits, tough to explain), so it wasn't that bad.

[CJC]

Coyotek4, did you mean "erased" by: I erased it by my own free will, or the authorities(of any type) told me to erase it?(Or was that sarcastic?) Oh, and uh, I have gotten a couple benefits from Nightmare's review(personal benefits, tough to explain), so it wasn't that bad.

I think he thought you might erase the quest.


I would just like to reassert though that your quest DOES have some great and innovative material, particularly Level 6. I played it with the Green Tunic and it was exhilirating; if I were to do a mash-up of all the 5th quest entries I would use your Level 6 as Level 3.

[Coyotek4]

Coyotek4, did you mean "erased" by: I erased it by my own free will, or the authorities(of any type) told me to erase it?(Or was that sarcastic?) Oh, and uh, I have gotten a couple benefits from Nightmare's review(personal benefits, tough to explain), so it wasn't that bad.

What I meant was, I wanted to play it before YOU erased, or otherwise changed, the quest. As you seem to have 'given in', I'm glad I did.

I actually just finished the quest. Time for my thoughts.

OK, I'll just start with this: this ain't making the final cut. It IS extremely easy, with numerous item rooms being just bare or with only a pittance of enemies. And, you just give stuff away! I'm all for early swag and all, but that was just crazy.

I had no real issues with the scripts you had (save for the 'racism' one; that joke just fell flat). Frankly, my 7-year-old found the TP reference funny. And I did get a chuckle out of the Gorriya in Level 9.

On the other hand ... "Moar bombs"? Seriously?

There was nothing particularly imaginative about the Levels, including (and especially) Level 9. Really felt like you were throwing paintballs on the canvas to see what would stick. (At least the 'russian-doll Darknuts' were interesting, and challenging.)

In the early-going, there was nothing special about the locations either. Switching two locations of interest doesn't really make for a challenge.

Incredibly, I almost lost the game anyway: jacking up Ganon (2 hearts' damage with the Red Ring, and takes 10 shots with the Magic Sword) proved very tough; I ended up using red and blue potion (starting with full 16 hearts) and ended up one hit away from death. Considering how easy everything was to that point, it was a bit jarring.


Having said all that ... I found the midway-boss of Level 6 to be most creative; something that I could see in other quests. There are probably other ways to use him. (The setup for Level 6 hurts the authenticity, but makes for ideas in more original quests.)

Also ... this really is a quest that (when cleaned up, anyway) would be suitable for a child's first game. Even more so than the official 'Child's Quest'. For that, I thank you. And for that, I will not be so quick to delete this quest from my files.


This was not my 'least favorite' quest, though it ranks below most of the ones I've played. But it was short and sweet, and I certainly enjoyed myself.

[Coyotek4]

Almost forgot: some other 'bugs'


In Level 2: you can get stuck with no Bow up against Gohma.

In Level 7: if you go back to clear out every room (you can't do so in one try), you get stuck.

One entrance (along the top row) is a cave, but should be a staircase. (I've seen the opposite happen in a couple quests.)

In most levels, you can still the roars after a sub-boss dies.


(Never got the reference with the letters, or that one clue by the old lady in the bottom cave.)

[Nightmare]

I'll adjust the revew in light of the changes:

Difficulty: 0/100

Easier than the First Quest. No secrets used. No statues. No challenge. (not chaning this at all)

NES Authenticity: 50/100

Octorocks On Cracks (which we told you not to use)
Death Knights (which we told you now to use)
2 Entrances on Level 6.

Fun Factor: 50/100

Barely any use of the enemy editor

Overall: 33.3/100 This will work out better, but there are still some issues. I think the enemy editor could've been used more creatively and not just in one or two spots. Second, it was pretty much stated not to use Crackterocks and Death Knights, use your judgement call to keep within NES limits. Third, you're getting no points for difficulty for a quest easier than the 1st Quest, but I think you're well aware of that, and I wouldn't expect you to change your work or haphazardly make things harder and break your quest like Travster appaently did from reports. Thank you for removing the South Park-style parody, it was so offensive and in a lot of cases not funny.

[BtjCraft]

In Level 7: if you go back to clear out every room (you can't do so in one try), you get stuck.

Where exactly did you get stuck?

Overall: 33.3/100 This will work out better, but there are still some issues. I think the enemy editor could've been used more creatively and not just in one or two spots. Second, it was pretty much stated not to use Crackterocks and Death Knights, use your judgement call to keep within NES limits. Third, you're getting no points for difficulty for a quest easier than the 1st Quest, but I think you're well aware of that, and I wouldn't expect you to change your work or haphazardly make things harder and break your quest like Travster appaently did from reports. Thank you for removing the South Park-style parody, it was so offensive and in a lot of cases not funny.

Understood. It's tough for me to come up with great ideas, and that's why I didn't use the enemy editor that much(I did recently get a couple of good ideas though). I was actually in the process of severely increasing the difficulty, but the warning stopped me quickly, I'm still going to try to bump the difficulty up some, but there won't be any big changes.

[Coyotek4]

where exactly did you get stuck?

Spoiler: show

in the upper-right portion of the dungeon, you have to choose to go either left or right. Shutters prevent you from backtracking, but as you're going to exit upon defeating the boss, it doesn't matter the first time through.

I'm a completist: I like to get into every room of every dungeon. Thus, i went back in to see the rooms i didn't see the first time. Doing so got me trapped.

[Nightmare]

Where exactly did you get stuck?



Understood. It's tough for me to come up with great ideas, and that's why I didn't use the enemy editor that much(I did recently get a couple of good ideas though). I was actually in the process of severely increasing the difficulty, but the warning stopped me quickly, I'm still going to try to bump the difficulty up some, but there won't be any big changes.

Generally, when I play quests, I keep in mind a general number while I'm playtesting.

Usually, when playing quests, if I 0-1 game it's way too easy (yours was 3, but I was doing multiple levels at a time and being generally more careless than usual, so I keep that in mind).
3-8 games is usually average
If I have 10+ games it's going to take the average gamer probably 100 or more games (with my experience with James Quest and James Quest 2).

I generally got good at Zelda playing James Quest. It put me on a different level because while developing it, I had to be able to play it without it being too hard to pass. While there is room for improvement when you play, you generally don't want to make something you can't play. If you're working on your quest and you don't test it, or it takes you 100+ games to beat it, then you got some work to do in balancing the difficulty honestly. I remember 100 being the first time I played the 1st Quest when I was 8 years old and is generally "the breaking point" for most people. For me now it's 10, because I figure for every death I take with my advanced skill it's going to be ten times worse with everyone else. A lot of college professors also do this with class difficulty as well.

-James

[justin1]

beat it in 3:30 with 1 death in level 6.

really really really easy. level 7 is easier than some competitors level 1! i was able to run through most dungeons without getting hit or at full health the whole time. level 6 being the exception because i suck at wizzrobes.

i wasn't too much of a fan of the level design, mostly very linear with very few secrets - almost no walkthru or bomb walls, and absolutely nothing off map.

enemy editor use was disappointing with the exception of the summoner and triple splitting darknuts, cool ideas.

the boss rush at the end was at good idea, but none of the bosses were difficult to begin with so with all the kit at the end they are even easier. ganon on the other hand hits really hard, i had to use both potions, and was getting worried about how much HP he had left.

there were too many levels in the western woods - 4, and another really close by. none of the levels were in particularly interesting locations.

using the eaglebug was neat, but is the point of it so that the player ends up with extra keys? level3 i used the bug, and finished with an extra key (i think i could have completed the level without the bug). i forgot to do the bug again in level6, but that didn't matter because i had the extra key from lvl3. so i assume if i remembered to do it in lvl6, i would have an extra 2 keys.

i really disliked a lot of the OW secret locations being on the outer row of tiles, i've never seen another quest put them there before. i didn't find them until after looking in your quest file.


still a lot of bugs in it.
- its impossible to get the heart container on the beach, your ladder/raft idea isn't working. and doesn't make much sense anyways since both ideas are available in the same level.
- screen 69, the secret entrance is just a black tile.
- still possible to get stuck in level7 as several people have said
- level 6, after getting the triforce you are warped to OW screen 05 in the top left corner, need to exit game.
- level 8, map screen 1B (NOT dmap screen#), dark room has floor tiles in two different csets
- probably more, but those are the biggest ones.

[Zweldron]

Just finished this one- in just under 6 hours total play time. This was a very easy map; with the exception of Ganon, the quest was very easy. That doesn't make it bad, but it does make it not really "5th quest" worthy. Anyway, before I get to the details, I should note that I played this map after it was "cleaned up" I don't know if that makes it the latest version, but it should give a frame of reference.

warning! the rest of this post contains spoilers! stop reading now if you don't want to know! (I don't want to put the whole post in a spoiler tag)

As usual, I try to explore as much of the overworld as I can before diving into dungeon 1. Being a bit over-eager, I got killed by a lionel before I got the magic shield. That was my only death in the game. Finding the red candle early on, I explored a lot more than I usually do, and so I had every item available outside of dungeons before dungeon 1. (not counting things that required items in the dungeons, of course).
The first thing I noted was the (lack of) difficulty, but beyond that, there were no "dark" rooms in the dungeons, merely dim ones. I was also surprised at how straight-forward the dungeons were. Unless I missed something, there were no "off-the-map" rooms, only one "push through the wall" room, and NO move-a-block rooms. Although I complained in other quests about overusing some of this, not having it at all lessens the classic feel of the dungeons. One other problem I had was that when I finished dungeon 6, I was placed in the upper-left corner of spectacle rock, and so couldn't move, and, being on the edge, couldn't use the whistle to warp. I needed to quit/save to continue. Finally, I was never able to get the heart-container on the lone dock. I read the comments here, and viewed the quest in the editor, but the place where I should have been able to launch the raft only used the stepladder, so I had to finish with only 15 hearts.

Now, before you think I've nothing but bad to say, there were some highlights- mainly with the new/modified creatures. The mirror-room wizrobe was fun. I wish more was done with this than just that one fight. I could see making "black box" type puzzles with this.The splitting darknuts were an interesting twist. The charging leevers, however, were just annoying.

If I were rating this map as a stand-alone, and not for this contest, then it would have done better (although the bugs would need to be worked out), but as far as the contest goes, I have to rate this at only 2.42/5