noma
Level: Smitemaster
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Rank Points: 1594
Registered: 11-22-2006
IP: Logged
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Re: Penwielder's Palace (+1)
And conquered! This was a very sneaky hold. It lures you in with seemingly easy, though enjoyable, puzzles. You're just innocently playing along, thinking how nice it is to play something "simple" and straightforward, and then once you're sucked in, the difficulty level ramps up and you're reminded that tricky, fun, and yes, new puzzles are possible using just the elements from 'back in the day.' Sure, there are some just-okay rooms, but nothing is really tedious. (Well, there were a couple of rooms in Chambers of Goo I could've done without.) But overall the rooms and levels are nicely designed and well laid out, and there are some real gems to be found. I'd say the puzzle difficulty ranges from 2-5, with a few rooms edging up into the 7 range. I only needed a nudge--well, more of a shove--on one room. (What would we do without CSR?)
There were also more than a few rooms that when I first them, I thought, "Ugh, too many orbs", or "...too much goo" or too much something. But surprisingly--and I think this is a sign of a good architect--even after hundreds of moves, or dozens of restarts, I would find myself totally intrigued and engaged. I look forward to seeing more from Penwielder.
Warning: there are two rooms that start with force arrows: HoS 1N & TGS 1S, 1E. If you're an optimiser, make sure you've hit a checkpoint in a completed nearby room before entering, in case you need to adjust sword direction. (Request to architects: if you're going to do this, please, please, put a line of checkpoints at the edge of the room from where the player enters. Since I hadn't hit a checkpoint in the last room I completed, I had to re-do a 400+ move room to fix my sword orientation.) Speaking of optimisers... There is loads of opportunity waiting for you, though you'll find that the checkpoints were not placed with the optimiser in mind. *sigh* I did feel that overall the checkpoints could have been better placed, but that's what I get for not getting involved at the architecture stage.
Fun: 8
Brains: 4.5
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