[5th Quest Entry] MischaPetya

Well, I'm (almost) stuck here. I just finished level 7, and I found no items in the dungeon (other than a bomb upgrade). From the clue in the dungeon, I believe that the [spoiler]red candle[/spoiler] should be in here somewhere, but I must have pushed/bombed every block/wall multiple times and still nothing. The clue [spoiler] (which I assume is to level 8's location) also implies that without the red candle I cannot get into level 8. [/spoiler] Am I missing something, or am I simply reading too much into it?
For the record, I am currently missing the following standard items (so if I a missed something in an earlier dungeon, let me know): magic key, red ring, book, wand, red candle, silver arrows, magic boomerang

[spoiler] the red candle is in the gleeok room push the right block. You have all the items so far [/spoiler]

Thanks, and boy do I feel silly now. I just popped into the game to check, and sure enough I missed it :banghead:

SPOILER WARNING! there may be spoilers throughout this post!

Well, I've finished it, so here some the comments, by category:

Riddler: very nice cluing for things that were not in obvious places. I was never stuck trying to figure out where to go. A few clues (such as one in level 6) I only got the significance of after finding what they referred to, but I *should* have figured them out. I don't recall a clue for locating dungeon 9, however (I had found it through my search of the overworld- I tend to try all the obvious stuff, however I don't burn every tree unless I must if I only have the blue candle.) 4/5 here.

Difficulty: The ramping was a little uneven. One major difficulty was the lack of a boomerang until dungeon 6. You really appreciate that item when you don't have it! I had little trouble with most of the dungeons (not saying they were easy, only that I was pretty good at clearing them), but the last couple jumped severely in difficulty. some things were overdone, but I'll comment on them during the appropriate categories. 4/5 again.

clever boss: The trickiest thing was not in the bosses themselves, but rather that there were often assorted bubbles getting in the way. However, the Ghomas were generally a real pain to defeat- in particular the one on the route to Ganon in dungeon 9. The most interesting thing was the coin-bubble *IN* the Ganon battle. Fortunately I didn't get hit by it too much, so I was able to shoot the arrow when needed. This actually helps the interesting enemy rating, though, as bubbles are support characters. 3/5 here.

Interesting enemy: there were the usual power-ups on the enemies. Unfortunately, this meant that many rooms could never be "cleared" as even with the magic sword, the zols and vires couldn't be killed completely, so they always regenerated when leaving a room. The bubbles were the most interesting and varied, between b-type bubbles, charging bubbles, and the aforementioned coin bubbles, they were by far the worst enemy in most of the dungeon rooms! Unfortunately, most of the modified creatures were simply stronger / healthier / faster versions of the old ones. Not much originality in most of them. 3/5 here.

Dungeon quality: Very well done- though I did have to purchase a key once (I probably simply missed one, but the dungeons are hard to be certain they have been completely explored). I think that there were a few too many underground paths. Several dungeons had more than 10 of them. Combine this with the rooms that can't have the creatures cleared, and even returning through areas you already explored became a chore. That is the only reason that I only give 3.5/5 here; it likely would have done better with a little more moderation in use.

Appearance/NES feel: The map, cluing, and all-around NESness of the map was very good. I think this one is definitely worthy of becoming "official" from this standpoint. There were, however, one or two comments which seemed out-of-place as humorous asides which didn't quite fit in for the feel. 4/5 here.

Overall, this was a very well-made quest, and has the highest marks of the 5th quest quests I have done so far, with an overall 3.65/5

MischaPetya wrote:Here is a new version of my quest that brings down the difficulty some. There were some rooms I thought were too unfair and frustrating.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just started this quest today; looks very good so far. Also haven't died yet. Never dropped below 2-hearts for LV1 and 2, though it's understandable since those seem to be a-maze-ing! (Seriously if LV1 had any more underground passageways you would have give all the enemies mole sprites). If I manage a 0-game on it first try I'll be disappointed. 😞 :sadder face:

I'm through 4 Levels. Lost one life in Level 4, but was worth it for the item I got. Still missing both bomb upgrades and a ton of items, and not sure about the whereabouts of the Magic Sword and Level 8. So far, a very solid quest. (Were the horizontal and vertical 'tunnel' rooms overdone? Perhaps, but the author sure knows how to get the maximum value for a dungeon.)

There is a new version of the quest out if you downloaded before August 28, 2014 redownload.

Mainly bumps the difficulty back up and fixes a warp that got messed up in the last version.

MischaPetya wrote:There is a new version of the quest out if you downloaded before August 28, 2014 redownload.

Mainly bumps the difficulty back up and fixes a warp that got messed up in the last version.

Considering how much disdain I had for Travster's quest (after he turned up the difficulty from -7 to 184), I'm glad I finished the version I had before this bump in difficulty. Anyway ...

Wow! Seriously, the dungeon mazes in this quest were pure insanity. Nearly every dungeon had at least one 'horizontal' or 'vertical' tunnel room where you had to enter from all three sides to get everything the room had to offer. (Often, two opposite walls were connected by the path, while a third side had a room-clearing item and the fourth side had a secret passage.) This was easily the most intricate dungeon system I've ever seen, '5th quest' or otherwise. Better still, you accomplish all this without resorting to 'one-way passages' (I hate those) and only a few shutter doors. Just an exceptional job!

(I dunno if the early levels needed so much intricacy, but it certainly prepared you for the future.)

Very much a 'linear' quest, as every dungeon contained an item needed to get into (or past the first room of) the next dungeon. Also a huge backload of items near the end; I found 6 items in the last 2 dungeons. For all that, though, there was nothing 'unfair' about the quest: every important item and location had a clue to find it. You really maximized the potential that the original Overworld had.

Most of the new creatures weren't overly original, though I'd never seem the rope-like behavior in Bubbles before (and am grateful you didn't put them in before Level 9). The Ganon battle was unique with what you put in there; original, but not out of the realm of what the original game could have offered.

I'm torn between this quest and BigJoe's as to which I like more; this one had better dungeons, but BigJoe's was definitely more 'authentic' with the color palettes and creatures within. I lean towards this one, but only barely. (It should be noted that I did these quests very recently, and may be forgetting how good the quests by HeroOfFire, Nightmare, Chris Miller, and CJC.)

Fantastic Job!

There is a new version of the quest because level 6 didn't have enough keys in it and you were forced to buy one to progress.

Mischa, I really don't care what you do with the later levels, you can make them as hard/easy as you please, but please:

Level 1 is WAY too hard! There are traps everywhere, you can't really refill life before you hit the boss, and it kinda stinks your quest out at the moment in your new version because you really can't prepare for it. I'd highly suggest minusing the traps out (if you want to leave the statues in the boss room OK, I could dodge the beams where they were located).

Level 1 is supposed to be an intro, a warm-up, getting people back into it. It's right now arguably harder than Lv. 9 of the 2nd Quest, and that's not exactly a good thing.

Just my 2C on replaying your quest on the new version on your stream.

Here's the replay of what I have so far from my stream on InstaGib.tv:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZg6iQHFIdmj0fpcjPXIOzGh7dZBhE1XI

I see you made that first video private.

I took into consideration what you said about the quest and I changed the traps. It is doable but it is hard so if you want to try the quest again you can download the quest again. Thanks for the feedback.

Fixed the private video issue. Uploading the other parts now.

One more lighter suggestion Mischa: Unless I'm really being crazy and haven't found the White Sword before Level 2 because I missed it, NO ONE in this day and age is going to like to have to kill 6-10 Like-Likes in a row with a Wooden Sword. Hell, I don't even think in my Wooden Sword 2nd Quest runs I did that. So I got a potential solution to that problem in Level 2, and it'll make it look even better in this contest: Make a custom Like-Like with different colors and takes less hits (5 to be fair). I did this in James Quest: Remastered and it seemed to go over better, with eliminating a cheap aspect. Not saying it's impossible, but some food for thought.

-James

Yesterday I went and uploaded another version of the quest version 9 that takes out a lot of the traps and other things. I just started watching your runthrough and I decided to release another version of the quest version 10 that eliminates the like likes completely and fixes other graphical problems and things I saw in your videos. Version 10 hasn't been processed on PureZC yet as of this post.

White Sword and Whistle location
[Spoiler]You need the whistle to find the White Sword which is located in Level 3. The White Sword is under a lake above the lost hills. The old man on screen 5E hints to this.[/Spoiler]

MischaPetya wrote:Yesterday I went and uploaded another version of the quest version 9 that takes out a lot of the traps and other things. I just started watching your runthrough and I decided to release another version of the quest version 10 that eliminates the like likes completely and fixes other graphical problems and things I saw in your videos. Version 10 hasn't been processed on PureZC yet as of this post.

White Sword and Whistle location
[Spoiler]You need the whistle to find the White Sword which is located in Level 3. The White Sword is under a lake above the lost hills. The old man on screen 5E hints to this.[/Spoiler]

Glad to be of service with my videos Mischa. I think all the quests should be documented like this (not just mine) to see how they play and so people who don't have time/can't finish it can judge for themselves. I don't know if I'll get to anyone else though due to time constraints, but I thought your quest was really good and deserved the treatment of getting a video for being underplayed.

-James

Thanks for the videos. This was my second ever completed quest so it's hard to gauge difficulty until you see someone else play it. I would love to see you play the new version you will have a much easier time with it compared to what you are doing now.

I wish someone would play mine besides me (like Gleeok, BigJoe, or someone else. I did my own runthrough). I did BigJoe's Link's Last Leg though, and that quest got exposed to a good deal.

-James

New quest version out. (Version 10)

Parts 6-14 up, putting more up tomorrow.

EDIT: Now to Part 14.

-James

Nightmare wrote:I wish someone would play mine besides me (like Gleeok, BigJoe, or someone else. I did my own runthrough). I did BigJoe's Link's Last Leg though, and that quest got exposed to a good deal.

-James

I would, but I've never done a 'Lets Play' before and don't know where to begin. Or what equipment I would need.

(I probably would have to subscribe to YouTube, I guess.)

Coyotek4 wrote:I would, but I've never done a 'Lets Play' before and don't know where to begin. Or what equipment I would need.

(I probably would have to subscribe to YouTube, I guess.)

Look up Open Broadcaster System (OBS) for Windows (if you have it). It's mainly a streaming tool, but now supports recording outside of streaming. It's easily the best tool to use to record Zelda Classic.

If you need help setting up PM me.

-James

Nightmare wrote:Look up Open Broadcaster System (OBS) for Windows (if you have it). It's mainly a streaming tool, but now supports recording outside of streaming. It's easily the best tool to use to record Zelda Classic.

If you need help setting up PM me.

-James

Never heard of OBS before, and don't have it. I googled the term; I read that I can download "OBS 0.636 Beta" ... but I'm always wary of downloading stuff like this off the net.

Coyotek4 wrote:Never heard of OBS before, and don't have it. I googled the term; I read that I can download "OBS 0.636 Beta" ... but I'm always wary of downloading stuff like this off the net.

That's the right one, looks like they updated again (I have 0.635b). It works good, just take the installer slowly and don't install anything else they offer ( a common problem with free software). If you do accidentally, let me know, I know how to remove that stuff.

-James

@James: Use some bombs on the like-likes before finishing them off with the sword for christ's sake. Stop being such a cry-baby. :P

[MENTION=60507]MischaPetya[/MENTION]: I've been out of town for two-weeks and still haven't finished your quest yet, sorry. I'm also still running the older version you posted last time I replied to this thread (whatever version that is; I forget). From what I've played of that one I have to disagree a bit with nightmare--It's really good as-is.

I downloaded OBS on Nightmare's suggestion and it seems pretty legit. I've recorded four videos of Nightmare's 5th entry so far. It works excellently, just takes a bit of setup.

bigjoe wrote:I downloaded OBS on Nightmare's suggestion and it seems pretty legit. I've recorded four videos of Nightmare's 5th entry so far. It works excellently, just takes a bit of setup.

Enough of the off-topic! If you want to discuss BigJoe's run of my quest, do it in my thread please! It's disrespectful to Mischa. (once again, apologize for the rent-a-modding, though I think it had to be said)

Anyway, Part 15 and 16 are up for Mischa's quest. Enjoy!

-James

Apologies. I just wanted to get it out there that OBS isn't spyware, in case Coyotek or others wanted to do runs of the finalists' quests.

bigjoe wrote:Apologies. I just wanted to get it out there that OBS isn't spyware, in case Coyotek or others wanted to do runs of the finalists' quests.

https://obsproject.com/download

There, done.

-James