admin
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
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File: Empires power And Beethro comes along.hold (84.4 KB)
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This is the sequel to EP: the slayer vats. In this hold you are Beethro instead of a slayer. In the last level please keep note the the custom monster is supposed to be camouflaged with the floor. Enjoy =D

Jatopian
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1842
Registered: 07-31-2005
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admin wrote:
In the last level please keep note the the custom monster is supposed to be camouflaged with the floor.

I don't think the intended purpose of custom graphics was to let us repeat the design mistakes of previous DROD versions.

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Chaosgamer
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 88
Registered: 04-08-2009
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Jatopian wrote:

admin wrote:
In the last level please keep note the the custom monster is supposed to be camouflaged with the floor.

I don't think the intended purpose of custom graphics was to let us repeat the design mistakes of previous DROD versions.

Uhh... If that's a good thing thing thanks.... If it is something else than ...

Jacob
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3746
Registered: 10-01-2004
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Jatopian's saying that it's probably not a good idea (or at least it's not the intended use) to use custom graphics to hide information from the player (as was much easier to do in earlier versions of DROD - e.g. with spiders, things hidden under tar).

I did point out that hidden monsters could be annoying when beta-testing this hold, but I think you decided to keep them.

Overall though, I wouldn't let this put people off playing the hold. There's a lot of good in it, and there's only really one room where hidden monsters are irritating, I'd say.

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neveragain
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 23
Registered: 07-08-2009
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This hold is a lot shorter, and a lot better than it's prequel.

Overall, the hold is pretty nice, and none of the rooms contain too much hack and slash.

I liked many of the puzzles in this hold.

Remira Tunnels: Once South - a fine room with a little lynchpin.

The Ascent: Thrice North - another fine lynchpin room

The Chosen One Test: Twice South, Twice East - A very good stalwart room. My favourite room of the hold.

All the other rooms were good except the final secret room of the hold. This room is so bad, that it almost destroys anything that is good about this hold. Needs a lot of checkpoints, which is why I still haven't beat it.

5 Brains
6 Overall

Good, but not great. The architect has obviously improved from his first hold. I'm hoping that his later holds keep getting better, and totally impresses me the next time!

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[Last edited by neveragain at 08-05-2009 01:00 AM]

Chaosgamer
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 88
Registered: 04-08-2009
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File: EpABca The Chosen One Test 3E Victory.demo (3.6 KB)
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License: Public Domain

neveragain wrote:


All the other rooms were good except the final secret room of the hold. This room is so bad, that it almost destroys anything that is good about this hold. Needs a lot of checkpoints, which is why I still haven't beat it.

Oh, that one. Yes it's bad. Not that kind of bad that I mean. Yes it's hard. Yes it's annoying not having alot of checkpoints. Trust me, it's easy once you find the trick.

EDIT: I don't get what's so hard. I beat this room 1st try after posting. I didn't even test this room after updating it in the architecture board. They just said much better and thank for __ I could provide a demo if you need one but that will be in the H&S board.

EDIT AGAIN: Here is a demo.

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[Last edited by Chaosgamer at 08-05-2009 01:25 AM]

zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1721
Registered: 02-04-2003
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Chaosgamer wrote:
I didn't even test this room after updating it in the architecture board.

RAGE

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Chaosgamer
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 88
Registered: 04-08-2009
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zex20913 wrote:

Chaosgamer wrote:
I didn't even test this room after updating it in the architecture board.

RAGE

Actually the update was just the two potions. This room was originally un-secret and was required. I just move it and made it secret. So aka I didn't need to test it. I just got a request to add them. The room is possible without the potions at the start, they just give you a head start.

Tahnan
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2459
Registered: 11-14-2005
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Jatopian wrote:

admin wrote:
In the last level please keep note the the custom monster is supposed to be camouflaged with the floor.

I don't think the intended purpose of custom graphics was to let us repeat the design mistakes of previous DROD versions.

Not entirely a fair critique, since these invisible monsters aren't deadly to the player.

This was indeed a much better hold than the previous one; I quite enjoyed it, really. The secret room alluded to above is a little painful, but once I hit on a method, it worked pretty well.

Give this hold a shot; it's not all that long, and there are definitely rooms worth seeing.

CuriousShyRabbit
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3170
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged

I agree, Chaosgamer's hard work and persistence have greatly improved this hold.

It's got a nice story, and themed levels featuring a mixture of horde management and manipulation puzzles. My favorite levels are The Remira Tunnels (variety) and The Ascent (swordless manipulation).

mxvladi
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 2505
Registered: 02-11-2008
IP: Logged

Conquered.

It was definetily better than Chaosgamer's first hold. Rooms were enjoyable and none of them was random or annoying.

However, there're still a couple of things that spoiled fun a little(for me, at least). First, sometimes checkpoints were placed in places which I haven't actually reached while solving the room(Lunacy Chambers 2W is very good example of this). Second, level with name "3,000,000 feet under the ground" forced me to turn off alpha blending. Oh, and in some rooms those blue custom monsters on blue floor were hard to see.

3,5 brains. 7 for fun.

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

This is a medium length hold with a story and a variety of different puzzles. Each of the 5 levels has a different theme and feel. You start out with a mixture of horde management, restricted movement and swordless manipulation. The second level is a constant room template style but it's only small so there's not too much to get bored with. The fourth level sees you swordless - this was probably my favourite level especially considering what follows...

I can understand how you'd want custom monsters to be challenging, but to have them as dark blue squares on a lighter blue background - for me it was just annoying and lowers my opinion on this hold. This is a shame as it's actually an enjoyable experience to play up to that point. I'd also give kudos to the architect for taking note of the myriad comments and suggestions in the architecture thread and following them through as they've made this hold better than it could be.

Overall this is a decent hold apart from the last level - I would certainly recommend playing that far - maybe you'll find the custom monsters more agreeable than I did.

My verdict:

Difficulty: 5.5
Fun: 5

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