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Caravel Forum : DROD RPG Boards : RPG Holds : The Test Of Mind (Somewhat easy RPG Hold)
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7.9/10 (24 votes)
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Author Name:Jeff_Ray...
Submitted By:Jeff_Ray...
Hold Name:The Test Of Mind
Theme:Somewhat easy RPG Hold
Author's Difficulty:
Number of Levels:11
Number of Rooms:210
Number of Monsters:919
Version:DROD RPG: Tendry's Tale (1.1)
High Scores:View High Scores
Hold Karma:11 (+11 / -0)
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File: The Test Of Mind.drh (68.8 KB)
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icon The Test Of Mind  
This is basically the second hold I made. Kudos to Chaco for inspiring me to make this.

Enjoy!
09-28-2009 at 01:47 AM
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Chaco
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+2)  
This new RPG hold doesn't cover a lot of new ground, but is high quality and has a solid structure.

The hold plays rather like the second half of Tendry's Tale, with ATK and DEF gems available for taking. There are seven levels of RPG puzzly action. Starting in the third level, altars begin to be implemented, which should work about the same as they do there. (For the curious, the cost starts at 25 greckles and doubles each use.)

The plot, while not the greatest in terms of quality or in depth, is good enough for the job. We follow the Stalwart Gobardo in his training for the Stalwart army, and he ends up tangling with some hostile forces along the way. Nothing's too tough for our hero with help from the Outside Influence, though!

I would call this hold easier than Tendry's Tale; there's plenty of health available and if you're optimizing the hold might get a bit easy at times, especially starting in the third level. But the hold is fun to play through, in my opinion, and optimizing is a complicated and interesting process.

Overall, this hold is well worth playing and re-playing, and while there are some hang-ups and room for improvement in both aesthetics and design, this is a good hold. Well done Jeff! :)

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[Last edited by Chaco at 09-28-2009 01:57 AM]
09-28-2009 at 01:53 AM
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CuriousShyRabbit
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+2)  
I don't play a lot of RPG holds, so I'm still a beginner at this. I found Jeff's hold very accessible, and I enjoyed playing though it.

Some reasons why I liked it:
* The levels are approachable; big enough to be interesting, but not too big, and not too complicated. After one partial exploratory playthrough of each level, it's easy to identify what my main goal should be on each level.
* There are ample, well-placed autosave points, as well as plenty of health, ATK, DEF, and keys. Even though I'm terrible at remembering to make manual saves, I never had to replay more than one level.
* There's a little "rat race" for accessories, sort of like in the first half of Tendry's Tale. I enjoyed figuring out the small puzzle of how to get them all, even if I ultimately didn't have much need for the final accessory in the sequence.

Overall, this hold is very suitable for beginners like me. :)
09-28-2009 at 02:11 AM
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mxvladi
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
A fun hold, though quite easy one.

The only thing I didn't like is that, because of enormous amount of different gems, keys, HP potions, hold became too easy near the end.

I liked that this hold has altars and accessories - this made optimization more interesting. I also liked the plot.

EDIT after a while: Actually scratch what I've said about this being too easy hold. After not playing DROD RPG for ages I found this hold to be great reminder of how to do it. It *is* simple, but fun, contains almost everything official hold has but doesn't contain any tough choices. You are challenged, especially on last two levels, and have to optimize, but not too much, and if you wasted a couple of keys you still can complete the game. This hold is ideal for newbies and whoever wants a reminder how RPG holds are played.

[Last edited by mxvladi at 07-07-2010 05:47 PM]
09-28-2009 at 10:14 AM
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Nuntar
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
Great hold -- one of those that I just couldn't stop myself playing until I'd completed it! Amusingly, I didn't discover the
Click here to view the secret text
until I'd almost finished Levels 5 and 6, so my score could have been much higher if I'd found it sooner. Going to go back and see if I can get the good ending... but not today as I've already spent quite enough time playing this! :D

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09-28-2009 at 06:09 PM
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Lamkin
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
This is (so far) my all-time favorite RPG hold; it is awesome. I very much liked that you are given a superabundance of keys and HP as it's so easy to get stuck in the vast majority of existing holds simply because you lack one or two freaking keys or are short one tiny, inaccessible health potion. Now, having said that, I suppose some would complain that this was "too easy," and I'd agree that it certainly wasn't mind-numbingly difficult, but that didn't in any way detract from how much fun the hold was to play. As Chaco mentioned above, optimizing the hold is a complicated and interesting process, and attempting to do so while not having to worry excessively about conserving one's keys and HP was quite enjoyable.


[Last edited by Lamkin at 09-30-2009 09:27 PM]
09-30-2009 at 09:18 PM
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deftriver
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
I agree, this is my favorite RPG hold so far. I really like how many different ways there are to play. You can go for some of the secrets, all of them, even the two exits, it's tons of fun to play over and over.
10-03-2009 at 03:35 AM
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DealPete
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
Just played through the hold, and it was fun. It's nice sometimes not having to obsess over optimization.
10-06-2009 at 04:32 AM
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zex20913
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
This can be a fun introductory romp, once you get past the first level or two. Those are the only ones I had any struggles with, and the later levels provide plenty of upgrades. There are optional secret rooms, which are always fun to find late. Slight sarcasm, but I'm not good at finding them. Ah well.

The later levels lend themselves to powering through, which is my kind of RPG hold. I like the broad path approach, as opposed to the narrow tightrope.

Note to people who look for a Really Big Sword--there isn't one, despite how architectural comments (and some aumtlich placement) would suggest. That's pretty much the only downside I'd say.

4 brains, 8.5 fun. I'll round up if necessary.

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10-13-2009 at 12:02 AM
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ijack7
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (0)  
Nuntar wrote:
Great hold -- one of those that I just couldn't stop myself playing until I'd completed it! Amusingly, I didn't discover the
Click here to view the secret text
until I'd almost finished Levels 5 and 6, so my score could have been much higher if I'd found it sooner. Going to go back and see if I can get the good ending... but not today as I've already spent quite enough time playing this! :D

I'm getting frustrated. On what level is the longsword hidden.
10-26-2009 at 05:02 PM
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blorx1
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
You can find what you are looking for
Click here to view the secret text


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10-26-2009 at 05:06 PM
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ijack7
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (0)  
Thanks for the help. I finished both endings and thought it was a well done hold. I think I found all of the hidden rooms but it would be nice to know just how many there were by level.
10-28-2009 at 03:10 AM
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Jeff_Ray...
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+2)  
Ok, here goes:

Click here to view the secret text


Hope this helps. :)

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10-28-2009 at 10:42 PM
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ijack7
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (0)  
Thanks for the info. Hmmm, I missed a couple. I'll go back and try to find them.
10-28-2009 at 11:03 PM
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techant
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (0)  
I know it has been awhile since anyone posted here but I couldn't think of better place... I just can not a grappling hook to jump the pits with.

Click here to view the secret text


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08-07-2010 at 07:46 AM
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Lamkin
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
The grappling hook is in...
Click here to view the secret text

Unfortunately, you'll need another accessory item to get into that room. :?


As for your other request...
Click here to view the secret text


[Last edited by Lamkin at 08-07-2010 09:36 AM]
08-07-2010 at 08:47 AM
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techant
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (0)  
Thanks but, what am I missing cuz...

Click here to view the secret text


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[Last edited by techant at 08-07-2010 09:08 AM]
08-07-2010 at 09:03 AM
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Lamkin
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
You're missing the...
Click here to view the secret text

Edit: Seems you've figured it out on your own. :)

[Last edited by Lamkin at 08-07-2010 09:29 AM]
08-07-2010 at 09:09 AM
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techant
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Yeah, now I will just have to figure out what to use it on, ha ha. Since it didn't work on the red door.

Click here to view the secret text


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[Last edited by techant at 08-07-2010 10:25 AM]
08-07-2010 at 09:42 AM
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techant
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (0)  
OK I made it but.... still missing one room on the last level. I have all the secrets but not all the rooms... I used the hint above to get the number of rooms.
Click here to view the secret text


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08-09-2010 at 10:07 AM
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Lamkin
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
techant wrote:
OK I made it but.... still missing one room on the last level.
For that last room...
Click here to view the secret text


[Last edited by Lamkin at 08-09-2010 11:44 PM]
08-09-2010 at 06:02 PM
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techant
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Thank you so much for that, I did try your solution earlier but I thought it worked differently and didn't know I had to click on its icon. I just kept bumping and that did nothing. :thumbsup

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08-10-2010 at 11:41 AM
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Lamkin
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (0)  
Huh, I hadn't known about clicking on an item's icon. You can also use any accessory item by pressing the tab key.

And you're welcome. :)

08-10-2010 at 01:19 PM
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Suwako
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+1)  
Great hold, I've conquered it with all the secrets, it have a good story and end (i didn't expect what the spook was), and good levels with great size, the only thing I found bad was that is very easy if you know how to pass the levels and know where all the secrets are.

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[Last edited by Suwako at 05-10-2011 03:34 PM]
05-10-2011 at 09:27 AM
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Jatopian
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (0)  
I don't understand your complaint, Suwako. You're saying that figuring the puzzles out and finding the secrets are easy if you... already figured the puzzles out and found the secrets? :?

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05-11-2011 at 12:40 AM
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Suwako
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Jatopian wrote:
I don't understand your complaint, Suwako. You're saying that figuring the puzzles out and finding the secrets are easy if you... already figured the puzzles out and found the secrets? :?
No, i said that with all(or some) secrets the hold is very easy. Sorry for my bad english :( .

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05-11-2011 at 10:24 AM
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Jatopian
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05-11-2011 at 04:49 PM
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kieranmillar
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icon Re: The Test Of Mind (+2)  
I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't terribly enamoured by this hold, but I can appreciate it for what it is. For a hold billed as being fairly easy, I found the difficulty to bounce all over the place. Levels 2 and 5 felt significantly trickier than the others, and the sudden introduction of masses of hot tiles in level 5 was maddening as I'd just started feeling comfortable about going back and picking up resources after being temporarily prevented from backtracking in levels 3 and 4.

The altar mechanic fit this level set very well, when things were getting tricky you could pop over and get a stat boost to lighten the load if you weren't optimising too well, but in hindsight I'm surprised the first altar wasn't near the start of the second level and that there wasn't one in the last level, as once you know this you can beeline to the last altar, boost yourself as much as possible and suddenly everything stops being remotely challenging, unless you're like me and holding off until the last level and then wondering where the altar is...

Keys aren't balanced in this hold, you will end up with a enormous surplus of them very quickly and then they stop mattering. It's possible to give players a bit of leeway with key management if you're looking to make things easier but it got a bit sily in this hold, with it possible to end up in excess of 50 spare keys towards the end.

Despite my complaining this hold is not bad. I was entertained until the end, the story is fun and its a nice change to have a long hold that isn't anywhere near the brutal difficulty of many other holds. I'm glad it's around and I will be back to try optimising it at some point.
03-22-2015 at 10:30 PM
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