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File: Spare Rooms.hold (11.3 KB)
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Our hero finds himself in a 1-level storyless hold with a haphazard level layout. Most rooms are concept puzzles, but others are kind of pointless.

silver
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the author is too modest. virtually all of the puzzles have some elements of originality. while not as difficult as larrymurk's holds, it's definitively non-trivial and interesting (for example, I have No Idea how to do 1S1W or 1S1E)



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[Last edited by silver at 04-29-2006 11:17 AM]

igusarov
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silver wrote:
(for example, I have No Idea how to do 1S1W or 1S1E)

Maybe it'd better belong to "Hints and Solutions", but here it goes:

1S1W is tricky.


1S1E is relatively easy, once you...


Edit: fixed a typo.

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[Last edited by igusarov at 04-29-2006 11:23 PM]

silver
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igusarov wrote:
Maybe it'd better belong to "Hints and Solutions", but here it goes:

for a discussion of why I didn't post hints and solutions threads, see the this post.

anyway, I got 1S1E on my own and mastered the hold (the master room is funny) already, but thanks for the hints. will help the next poor delver

This was a very good hold, IMHO. nice job, BoyBlue.


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[Last edited by silver at 04-30-2006 12:21 AM]

Syntax
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Well... what can I say?

An absolute superb hold. Every room features a different "trick", nearly all of them start with that "Hmm... that's impossible" feeling and the reward of acomplishment once the solution is found is phenomenal.

One of my favourite holds ever!

Keep up the excellent work (please ?)

eytanz
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Let me add my praise to this hold - it's really great. It has a nice open design that allows you to switch between puzzles if you are stuck, and better yet, the puzzles are uniformly well thought out, and a really large percentage of them are original.

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larrymurk
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I second and third the above comments.

This hold has about 30 rooms with good puzzles.

I think the best are 1S1W and 1S1E. You have to think, play, think, play, then think some more!!

Tim
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This is a good hold!

I wanted to comment it earlier on, but I was a bit busy at the moment...

And I gave a much higher score than usual, because this one is worth at least an 8.

-- Tim

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BoyBlue
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Thanks for all the kind words.

I'm annoyed at myself for screwing up the 2N2W secret room. I don't know that it's worth trying to update the hold, though.

And I'm almost afraid to keep looking at the record solutions, which may well reveal more of my bonehead mistakes .

Syntax
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How do you mean "screwed it up"?

I think that room's a great little room. No unintended solutions either, I don't think.

Tahnan
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I have to agree: there were some very nice tricks in here. Everything was approachable, but no less clever (or difficult) for all that. I think my jaw actually dropped when I understood what had to be done in 3N2W (after which I left it and didn't return for days, out of fear).

michthro
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I couldn't agree more. This is an awesome hold.

BoyBlue wrote:
I'm annoyed at myself for screwing up the 2N2W secret room. I don't know that it's worth trying to update the hold, though.

And I'm almost afraid to keep looking at the record solutions, which may well reveal more of my bonehead mistakes .

I noticed the crumbly wall at the bottom that didn't play any role, but this is a great room as it is. I don't think it's a good idea in general to update a hold because of unintended solutions, unless the solution is really trivial, as it's unfair to players who have already spent some time on it.

Er.. Since you're interested in unintended solutions (about which you worry too much), there is one in 4N, discussed here, though it's not trivial, and only takes longer than the intended solution.

BoyBlue
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I kind of suspected from the start that 4N might have alternate solutions. Not a big deal there, mainly because of the relative difficulties. (In case there was any doubt, the easy solution was the intended one.)

In 2N2W, the bottom corridor is about 3 tiles too short. The intended solution: Kill all the mimics before you reach the column on the right that contains the trapdoors (that is, before you reach tile (26,29)).

bandit1200
Level: Master Delver
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Registered: 10-29-2003
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edit: added secret tags

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[Last edited by bandit1200 at 05-05-2006 05:41 PM]

eytanz
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bandit1200 wrote:

Click here to view the secret text

×Looks like I'll have to ask in here since I can't ask about 2n3e in the hints forum. I take it this one, though not required, needs to be beaten to drop the master door? I can't even begin to cope with that many goblins. In fact I can't even manage one without getting into a position where I am going to get zapped. Where do I start?

edit: added secret tags

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bandit1200
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It's just so easy when you know how. Why do I always look for the difficult solution? Mastered and finished and thoroughly enjoyed, though there were more than a couple I would never have beaten without tips.

jbluestein
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Great hold! Some really interesting and original puzzles.

Although a certain secret room should be singled out for being especially unpleasant. And I think you know which one I mean.

In all, I give the hold an 8 with 6.5 brains of difficulty.

Josh

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Blondbeard
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If I remember corectly this is a great hold. It was some time since I played it, and I have just now completed the last two rooms. It's funny how you can be really, really stuck, wait for some months, and then complete the rooms that where so difficult in five minutes.

Penwielder
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I sat down to play Blue Rooms, but then I figured I might as well do the 'rooms' trilogy in order, so I played this instead. I've now conquered it, and have two secret rooms remaining somewhere. It's the first hold by BoyBlue that I've ever finished, so far as I can recall.

This was really nice. Even nice enough to make me review a hold for the first time in a while.

My favorites:
1S1E and 1S1W: Very creative both to build (on your part) and to play (on ours, which is fun).
3N2W: That's crossed my mind, but this is my first time seeing it in a published hold. Very nice!
1N3W: A different sort of challenge. I don't think cracked walls have seen enough of their potential.
1S: Very interesting to work out.
3N: Another fun idea.

My least favorites:


EDIT: Mastered.

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Penwielder's Palace, Detention Complex, Archipelago, Cube of Memories

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[Last edited by Penwielder at 05-01-2011 07:11 PM]

mauvebutterfly
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An interesting assortment of rooms, some of which are clearly impossible. I enjoyed beating those quite a bit.

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