Alright, I've played the new version of the hold.
Level 1 has just had some small tweaks, but I think it's tougher now than when it started. I don't think it should be made any harder than it is currently.
Level 2 also looks very familiar, but it has some other rooms that don't, which seem pretty fairly well balanced. I had an interesting time trying to figure out which ATK thresholds to get to first, and which way to spend what keys and money. (There's no way to know that freeing the prisoner behind the 'Neather will give you 500 health, though - and aren't tokens of appreciation usually monetary? Oh well.)
The Grey Jade fight was tough with the statistics I had, but I could have spent more greckles or keys getting more health. But that's not a problem anyway since in the original hold there was the option of fighting him immediately or going onto Level 3, either of which are good options.
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There's one thing I'd like to point out soon, before I forget and never mention again, since I never got around to pointing this out in the original:
In First Floor 8S2E, there are two yellow doors that the player will run smack into when they approach from the North. I'd recommend moving both of them into appropriate places in 7S2E, mostly so that they know about them beforehand and don't end up spending keys or health in 7S2E or 7S1E and then suddenly realise they needed one more yellow key before they did all that. It would just be a convenience to the player in terms of information, is all.
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Here's my score checkpoints.
Stanley Defeated!
HP: 64
ATK: 23
DEF: 14
Keys: 0/0/0
GR: 33
REP: 93
Score = 158
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Grey Jade Defeated!
HP: 60
ATK: 40
DEF: 30
Keys: 4/0/0
GR: 105
REP: 485
Score = 331
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Overall this hold's structure appears very similar to the old Nobard's Hold, but the difficulty is rebalanced (to the better, I think) and the story is improved. So far I'm liking it. Thumbs up!
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