Dex Stewart
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 355
Registered: 01-19-2007
IP: Logged

Jason wrote:
Good Job! Sorry to spoil the fun, but it's gone! It wasn't me.

And to think that I actually liked the guy (: .

TFMurphy
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3118
Registered: 06-11-2007
IP: Logged

Dex Stewart wrote:
And to think that I actually liked the guy (: .

Aw, you don't like me anymore? ;_; This is my first time out optimizing *anything* in DROD...

Come on down to the Armoury! Lack of players still means that there's plenty of opportunities for #1s! Before we all get overtaken by Rabscuttles, Tahnans, michthros and wallus, anyways (among others)....

EDIT: On a more serious note, does the room at least appear on your "Used-to-be-#1" list? It'd be sad if you didn't get at least that much out of it, and I know I've had trouble recently with one or two rooms in that respect.

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[Last edited by TFMurphy at 06-29-2007 06:37 PM]

Rabscuttle
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2460
Registered: 09-10-2004
IP: Logged

TFMurphy wrote:

EDIT: On a more serious note, does the room at least appear on your "Used-to-be-#1" list? It'd be sad if you didn't get at least that much out of it, and I know I've had trouble recently with one or two rooms in that respect.

I think that mass uploaded scores don't get added to the #1 History or Used-to-be-#1s. At least I think that used to be a problem, not sure if it still is.

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[Last edited by Rabscuttle at 06-29-2007 07:12 PM]

TFMurphy
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3118
Registered: 06-11-2007
IP: Logged

Rabscuttle wrote:
I think that mass uploaded scores don't get added to the #1 History or Used-to-be-#1s. At least I think that used to be a problem, not sure if it still is.

Yeah, that was one of the scores I uploaded when I started the trial account, so looks like it's still an issue. Ah well. Besides, it looks like that's the same room you just knocked me to #3 on ^_^

There you go, Dex! Rabscuttle has achieved revenge for you. (And Tahnan has multiple times) All you need to do now is beat one of Rabscuttle's score and the cycle shall be complete!

EDIT: Except that Rabscuttle also just #2'd one of my Upper Dungeon rooms, and that's not appearing. And that wasn't mass uploaded. So either it takes a while for the system to acknowledge it, or there's a seperate issue here... huhm. Ah well, no harm done.

EDIT 2: Or maybe Rabscuttle bulk uploaded his score, since now that I look in the right place, I see that his latest hasn't been added to the #1 History. Which is saddening. Oh, and while I'm looking: congrats, Dex. And I promise I won't take that one. (I'm terrible at horde rooms anyways ^_^;)

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[Last edited by TFMurphy at 06-30-2007 12:38 AM]

larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1911
Registered: 12-09-2004
IP: Logged

Thx calamarain for the fine effort.

The thing I love is having a story with voices and custom images. OK, maybe there were no custom images, but I really do generally enjoy playing the hold when I know I can look forward to getting more story and voice-acting. Very cool!

As for the rooms. A lot were solid, several gave me the "I've played this before" feeling, and then there were those painful ones (anyone remember the one w/ a million random pointing tunnels maze).

All in all, it's great to have you contributing to the holds board (and the forums for that matter)! I hope you stick around for a while

calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
Registered: 03-25-2007
IP: Logged

Nuntar wrote:
I really enjoyed the first few levels of this hold. Great scripting, great humour, and some really nice rooms. There were a couple that were a bit tedious, and a couple that were too similar to each other, but overall that was great fun.

I got to the Laboratory, though, and here they are just getting too tedious for me. Especially 1N. I completed a couple of rooms, but I think this is one I will only be returning to when I really have nothing else to do.

Yeah, that's the flaw here. Some of the rooms are good, but it does get just a bit too tedious My defence is that it was my first hold Below Witherwood is better. Still not great, but better.

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My Holds

calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
Registered: 03-25-2007
IP: Logged

Nuntar wrote:

calamarain wrote:Below Witherwood is better. Still not great, but better.

Oooh, there's another one? I'll try it out as soon as I've finished downloading the 3.1 patch.

Yep. 'tis the sequel to this one, though knowledge of this one's story is not required. It's got a new monster in it too

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My Holds

calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
Registered: 03-25-2007
IP: Logged

Nuntar wrote:
Well, I just tried it out, but it's clearly not intended for players like me who are still getting used to the game (and especially to the new features). Seriously, what is a room like Mines: 1N doing on the first level?

Fair enough Go through The City Beneath then, it's much nicer. Still hard, but does at least gradually introduce you to the new features.

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My Holds

Samuel
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 69
Registered: 07-08-2007
IP: Logged

Witherwood Castle was my first DROD game. I only got up to the South Wing so dont't fell bad. And on Below Witherwood i may have been a voice but i suck at playing it. So don't feel bad Nuntar

____________________________
I believe in everything until it's
disproved. So I believe in fairies,
the myths, dragons. It all exists,
even if it's in your mind. Who's to
say that dreams and nightmares
aren't as real as the here and now?
John Lennon

martz
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 414
Registered: 08-19-2005
IP: Logged

This is a very impressive debut hold from Calamarain - I know it might seem I'm being wise after the event but there are early signs of SS* potential here.

This is a large hold of 14 levels plus 1 nasty post-mastery level, and most of the JtRH elements are represented in a variety of puzzles. As has been touched on previously, although there are a variety of puzzles, there is nothing really original - most of this you will have seen before in one form or another but this isn't necessarily a bad thing as the hold isn't particularly difficult and there's only so much you can do with a hold without recycling ideas from elsewhere.

Probably my biggest criticism would be over the orb puzzle rooms - then seemed to be a fair few in this hold and they weren't all easy either. I generally use an orbsolver for these as I just can't be bothered to try and work them out myself.

Otherwise, the level layouts are interesting and varied, the voice acting is excellent and despite the size of the hold, there wasn't any point when I didn't enjoy working my way through it.

Sadly, Calamarain seems to have left the DROD community for the moment (although I'm sure I recognised his distinctive voice in the latest bar offering) but I've still got the rest of his holds to play which I will definately look forward to.

My Verdict:

Difficulty: 5
Fun: 8

* By SS I mean Smitemaster's Selections rather than Schutz-Staffel but that should be obvious right? Right?...

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Without struggle, there is no progress, so get up, get out, and go make the rest of your life the best of your life; you deserve to live the life that YOU want to live...

Progress - Gavin G

Nuntar
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 4590
Registered: 02-20-2007
IP: Logged

Well, this time round I didn't give up. And I'm glad I didn't.

Overall, this is a fun hold with a nice mixture of room types. It's true that many of the room types have been done before, but they are still well-crafted examples of their types, and except for one room (the secret in Upper Dungeon, I think) it never felt like playing exactly the same room over again. The last two levels were particularly good, with some rooms that felt truly original (though I can't pretend to have very wide knowledge of the usermade holds).

I particularly like Lower Dungeon 2S2E, a combination of two familiar ideas, which makes it look like it will be easy, and then it turns out not to be. Vault 2E, one of the most terrifying rooms I've ever seen, turned out to be fairly easy and fun. I also liked Vault 1N1W, which is intimidating at first, but there is a simple logical route to the solution.

On the negative side... there were a couple of rooms that were unnecessarily long, like the aforementioned Laboratory 1N. A couple of rooms suffered from lack of checkpoints (Chapel 4N1E) or poorly placed checkpoints (Lower Dungeon 2S1E). I think that all room types have a place as part of the DROD experience, but "run around mindlessly with a bunch of brained snakes until they all die" is not a type I enjoy seeing three times in the same level. My final rating is 6 brains and 8 fun, and without those flaws it could easily have been a 9.

The Labyrinth was a nice relaxing way to finish the hold, and I'm looking forward to giving another try to the sequel now

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50th Skywatcher

PMIT
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 159
Registered: 02-08-2010
IP: Logged

This hold has a lot of things going for it - a simple but enjoyable story with voice acting (I particularly enjoyed Ledric and the goblins) and each level is themed both by monster type(s) and aesthetically, and I liked seeing some of those aesthetic elements reappear when it came time for the inevitable final levels that mix everything together.

Many rooms in this hold have an element of hack-and-slash, and while it was occasionally somewhat excessive, most of them had some other element to keep things interesting, though even the pure hack-and-slash rooms were never trivial. With a hold of this size, it can be difficult to keep each puzzle completely unique, and thus there are several themes repeated throughout the hold. Sadly, they seem to fall into the 'love it or hate it' category, and I found myself generally enjoying the arrows on trapdoor mazes while disliking most of the 'kill about 20 serpents in some obtuse way' rooms. Overall, I found the best rooms to be the guard-focused ones, and many rooms in Lower Dungeon and the Vault were also good puzzles that hit the sweet spot of being just the right length.

As someone who doesn't necessarily mind maze levels, I found the Labyrinth to be be the best one I've seen so far. Having a monster or two in each room helped me focus on individual areas of the level, and making certain sections have only one way in or out made the whole thing feel much more manageable than hunting out the one long path to the exit.

Sadly, even though on the whole this hold is fine, the more annoying rooms often left me feeling more negative towards the hold than it probably deserved. There's not a ton that's unique or special, voice acting aside, but it's still worth taking a look at, particularly for newer players or optimizers. Being calamarain's first hold, it's a little rough around the edges, but it did leave me looking forward to seeing what the rest of Witherwood holds have in store.

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aka VioletPumpkin

calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
Registered: 03-25-2007
IP: Logged

Thanks Pretty much what I remember of it - rough round the edges but I was still proud of it. Not my best work, but definitely not my worst.

PMIT wrote: Being calamarain's first hold, it's a little rough around the edges, but it did leave me looking forward to seeing what the rest of Witherwood holds have in store.

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Jatopian
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1842
Registered: 07-31-2005
IP: Logged

Whoa, calamarain is back. Again. You missed an art contest, calamarain! I was sad.

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