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Caravel Forum : DROD Boards : Holds : Aurelia Keep (Monster manipulation, some efficiency)
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6.9/10 (10 votes)
σ 2.26
Author Name:Rob
Submitted By:Pinnacle
Hold Name:Aurelia Keep
Theme:Monster manipulation, some efficiency
Author's Difficulty:
Number of Levels:3
Number of Rooms:18
Number of Monsters:93
Version:DROD: The City Beneath (3.2)
High Scores:View High Scores
Hold Karma:11 (+11 / -0)
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File: Aurelia Keep.hold (8.2 KB)
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icon Aurelia Keep  
Not too long a hold (a mere 13 puzzle rooms) but I tried to make each room different enough that it's worth playing despite its short length.
07-20-2009 at 01:06 AM
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CuriousShyRabbit
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icon Re: Aurelia Keep (+1)  
Here's a lovely new bite-sized hold from Pinnacle. As described, test your manipulation skills and efficiency with a pleasing mixture of classic and TCB elements. I found these rooms tricky but not obscure. Recommended. :)
07-20-2009 at 01:13 AM
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mxvladi
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icon Re: Aurelia Keep (+1)  
Conquered.(still can't find secret room in Storm, though :( ) EDIT: Nevermind, mastered the hold!

A pretty good hold with many good medium-difficulty manipulation and effeciency puzzles. I liked that timers in effeciency puzzles were tight. I like solving effeciency puzzles with tight timers. ;)

My favourite rooms:

Click here to view the secret text


6 for brains and 9 for fun.

[Last edited by mxvladi at 07-20-2009 03:21 PM : 6, not 5 brains]
07-20-2009 at 02:11 PM
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Tahnan
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icon Re: Aurelia Keep (+2)  
Mastered as well. It's a little intimidating in terms of difficulty--I wandered back and forth among the first three rooms for a little while thinking, "Maybe I'll see how to solve at least one of them"--but one shouldn't really be scared off. Everything's there for a reason, and a little experimentation should get you through it.

It's also nice that it has a little of everything: some hot tiles, some swordless manipulation, a little serpent manipulation. It didn't necessarily cohere as a Grand Unified Theme, but does quite nicely in terms of variety.

Also, I've just learned more about post-rock as a genre than I ever knew before. Thank you, I think, for going with "Aurelia Keep" instead of "LYSFLATH!" as the title of the hold. (Look it up.)
07-20-2009 at 04:12 PM
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Dischorran
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icon Re: Aurelia Keep (+1)  
This is a good hold of the old-school monster manipulation sort - no unusual scripting, goals, or themes, just clear a well-spread variety of rooms of very similar difficulty and quality.

The puzzles are tricky but entirely fair and tightly constructed: everything is there for a reason, and while efficiency puzzles require trial-and-error to some extent, nearly all the rooms emphasize careful thought and planning. The second level is particularly good!

From an architectural standpoint, two things stand out as particularly exemplary. First, Pinnacle made the smart decision to scale back the initial plans for the hold rather than pad it with filler, which makes for a much better hold overall; quality is more important than quantity. Second, this hold is remarkably free of tedious manipulation of any sort - each room has exactly what it needs for the puzzle, no more, no less.

____________________________
Click here to view the secret text

07-20-2009 at 09:12 PM
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larrymurk
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icon Re: Aurelia Keep (+1)  
Great hold!

Every room is a well designed puzzle. Also a nice difficulty where I needed some effort but finally managed each room w/o hints.
08-02-2009 at 12:16 AM
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jbluestein
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icon Re: Aurelia Keep (+1)  
Nice, short and interesting hold. Some comments below, secreted for minor spoilage (but I have tried to not overdo it).

So the first level has five required rooms on it:

Click here to view the secret text


The second level has six required rooms.

Click here to view the secret text


Overall, I really enjoyed playing through this one.

I give it an 8 for fun and 4 brains.

____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck
09-23-2009 at 03:13 PM
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