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File: Chacos Hold.hold (56.2 KB)
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Alright, finally, an actual hold.

This one's been in the works for a long, long time. It's gone through many revisions, and many people have offered feedback and helped. Now, the project has finally come to what I consider completion. Go enjoy it.

-Chaco

People I'd like to thank for spending a lot of time helping:

Jacob
Tim
bandit1200
Ezlo

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3648
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

Note to optimizers: This hold doesn't feature much hack and slash, so you should probably play it quickly before the optimal solution is found.

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

Pilchard VIII
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 392
Registered: 01-21-2006
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Nice. As soon as I get some form of DROD on my computer, I'm playing it!

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The DROD Dragon

tokyokid
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 453
Registered: 05-06-2006
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Aw, man! This hold is excellent! The first level, though easy, is exciting and captivated me right into it. And I love how you have to move back and forth through Level II and III. I am lovin' this hold so far. Keep it up, Chaco!

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3648
Registered: 10-06-2005
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Actually, I was worried people would complain about that, so I added in a few blue-door passages that connected the levels.

Glad to hear that the second-level stuff wasn't too intimidating or anything.

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

tokyokid
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 453
Registered: 05-06-2006
IP: Logged

Chaco wrote:
Actually, I was worried people would complain about that, so I added in a few blue-door passages that connected the levels.

I don't see how anyone could be remotely ticked off at that. Even if they were, the puzzels would cover it up.

Glad to hear that the second-level stuff wasn't too intimidating or anything.

Some of the rooms do look a bit harder than the rest, like 1W. Rooms like this make me want to rate this hold higher, or make me want to mod it down, if it's too hard. It's one of those great/hard rooms, if you know what I mean. I'll have to tackle these tomorrow.

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[Last edited by tokyokid at 03-17-2007 12:04 AM]

larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1917
Registered: 12-09-2004
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I'm stuck going between the 2nd and 3rd levels. I've completed all the rooms I can currently get to so either..

1. The hold might be considered buggy in that one can becme stuck and need to restore.

or

2. I'm just confused and don't know what to do next.

Yeah, so #2 is the more likely situation. You wanna make something of it?

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3648
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

Have you used the stairs in both level III 1N and Level III 1N1E?



____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

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[Last edited by Chaco at 03-17-2007 12:20 AM]

Blondbeard
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1486
Registered: 03-31-2005
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A kind of trivial solution:

jbluestein
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1670
Registered: 12-23-2005
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Blondbeard wrote:
A kind of trivial solution:

Click here to view the secret text

×For level 2 2S1W when you come to the mimic potion you can just place the mimic by the orb between the rightmost tunnels. I guess the intention is that the mimic should solve some kind of trapdoor puzzle.

It kind of looks like that, but considering that there's a trapdoor that's only accessible via a tunnel, I think that this was the intended solution.

In general, this is an excellent hold. My only critique is that there is a rather high variance of difficulty. There are a lot of extremely easy rooms, and a good number of quite difficult rooms, and they're not presented in a gradually increasing level, either. This is not much of a critique, although I am sometimes disappointed when rooms that look complex turn out to have easy solutions.

The easy start may lull some people into thinking it's supposed to be an easy hold, when it's not really.

I give this hold a 9 for fun, and 5 brains of difficulty.

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"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

voyager
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 150
Registered: 03-17-2007
IP: Logged

All right, I finally beat it. This was the first hold I've played through without using any hints (except a couple really easy holds, I guess) and I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of very clever puzzles, and the difficulty level was just at the right point where it took me a while to work out the solution without having to kill myself after not getting it for the 80th time. The inter-level stuff was fun, too. Thanks for a great hold!

iamyum
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 64
Registered: 11-26-2006
IP: Logged

Phew.... just need to finish lvl 6 1S to completely conquer the hold...

I think I've gone through enough to review the hold.

GOOD HOLD!

Lvl 1: Warm up I guess.
Lvl 2: I suck at trapdoor sequence puzzles. 1S3W stumped me and I didn't have much satisfaction upon completion... I was also stuck at 3S until lady luck helped me to find the solution. 2S2W is good. I thought I should wait till I emerge from the SE entrance before solving. Turns out it is solvable in the beginning. 1W is pretty ingenius.
Lvl 3: I like 2N1W. It took awhile before I figured out how to move the mimic from one side to the other. 2N1E and 2N2E appear to have more mimic potions than needed. Yet I'm not interested in torturing myself to restrict my resources.
Lvl 4: They are mostly fun and solvable with a few attempts. I do like these rooms especially after a heavy day's work.
Lvl 5: I don't know what the intended solutions for 2W and 1S2W are, but it seems that we just need one golem in the main area. 3S and 1S1E were quite fun. Generally I like golems and the klonking noise it makes when stabbed.

All in all, great fun!

Danteslives
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 48
Registered: 11-16-2006
IP: Logged

This is a great hold! I thoroughly enjoyed it and there are only very few levels I didnt like... actually, I only didnt like lvl 5 1S1E... but I think thats only cause there were way too many things going on, and I am not fond of those types of levels. Anyway, thanks for the fun times!

bflatjeff
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 93
Registered: 04-04-2006
IP: Logged

jbluestein wrote:

Blondbeard wrote:
A kind of trivial solution:

Click here to view the secret text

×For level 2 2S1W when you come to the mimic potion you can just place the mimic by the orb between the rightmost tunnels. I guess the intention is that the mimic should solve some kind of trapdoor puzzle.

It kind of looks like that, but considering that there's a trapdoor that's only accessible via a tunnel, I think that this was the intended solution.

Right. I tried the "trapdoor puzzle" route, got frustrated, then hit myself on the head, said "Duh!", and took the easy route.

Now however, I'm stuck at level III. I think I've cleared the required rooms, but the blue doors haven't dropped. And going back and forth to level II is driving me nuts. I've cleared 11 rooms: 2n2w, 2n1w, 2n, 2n1e; 1n2w, 1n1w, 1n, 1n1e; 1w, entrance, 1e. Any help?

BbJ

____________________________
"Stupid, stupid roach creatures!"
- Beethro Bonekin

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[Last edited by bflatjeff at 12-09-2007 10:07 PM]

bflatjeff
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 93
Registered: 04-04-2006
IP: Logged

OK, I found it. I'll leave my post as it might help others in the same situation.

The path: Go to 1n1e, take the "eroded" passage on the left edge to 1n, then 2n, where the green door has dropped, allowing you back into 1n, and back to 1n1e, where a tunnel takes you beyond the blue door, allowing access to 1n2e.

BbJ

____________________________
"Stupid, stupid roach creatures!"
- Beethro Bonekin

pecan
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 15
Registered: 01-10-2005
IP: Logged

I thought maybe that post would help me, as I'm stuck going backwards and forwards between II and III. But... I have only completed four rooms on level III, although I can see two more. I can't find a way to get into the 2N rooms to complete them.

Help?

Catherine

____________________________
== Not nuts, just a little eccentric ==

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3648
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

The rooms at Level III 2N and such can be accessed from Level III 1W.

To get there, the staircase in Level II 3S1W must be taken. This means you'll have to drop the blue door in Level II, which means clearing all the required rooms.

Yes, this is a bit confusing, but don't give up! Beethro is never one to back down from a challenge.

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

pecan
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 15
Registered: 01-10-2005
IP: Logged

Thanks. I haven't found a way to get to 3s. It seems I need to follow a path originating in 2S1W but there is a yellow door and the orb is on the other side of it. I haven't found a way to do this in reverse. Any tips?

Catherine

____________________________
== Not nuts, just a little eccentric ==

pecan
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 15
Registered: 01-10-2005
IP: Logged

Actually, there is another route, but there's a blue door that hasn't dropped yet, in 1W. What do I need to do to drop that door?

Catherine

____________________________
== Not nuts, just a little eccentric ==

Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3648
Registered: 10-06-2005
IP: Logged

So, what's the problem with the orb being on the other side of the door in 2S1W, exactly? You have a mimic potion you know

____________________________
Quick links to my stuff (in case you forgot where it was):

pecan
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 15
Registered: 01-10-2005
IP: Logged

Hmmmm.


It's a case of not seeing the wood for trees, I think!!
Thanks.

Catherine

____________________________
== Not nuts, just a little eccentric ==