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Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Rank Points: 8
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File: Archipelago.hold (19.1 KB)
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Thravo, an ordinary, working-class citizen, was shipwrecked on his very first voyage at sea. He landed on a small island at the end of a long chain of such islands. It appeared possible to reach the mainland by swimming or rafting from one island to the next (yes, this hold is linear), so he decided to try it. Unfortunately, these islands were overrun by vicious monsters (and by DROD's environmental effects, too).

Clear all eighteen infested islands without food or a set of dry clothes. Oh, yeah, and you don't get a sword, either. Ready your rafts, fly your fegundos, maneuver your mimics, and make the most of your monsters, 'cause you haven't got much else.

This hold is ultimately for the diehards--the "harder is better" crowd. However, the difficulty is mostly gradual, so, as always, anyone is welcome to have a try at it. How far can you get on your own?

Two other notes:
1. Transitions between islands are automatic.
2. The islands are split into groups of three by theme. The difficulty is progressive within each triplet (as well as generally throughout the hold).

From the chat room on release day:
"Archipelago likes you feeling certain about your (wrong) routes." - TFMurphy
"Archipelago practices tax evasion with its hedge funds." - Chaco
"Archipelago makes Chuck Norris doubt himself." - Tahnan

da rogu3
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 491
Registered: 04-06-2011
IP: Logged

This is a hold for all the swordless player role fans. Penwielder has crafted a set of lovely puzzles, primarily focusing on the manipulation of monsters, mimics, mirrors, and fegundos.

Despite it's linearity, none of the puzzles had me giving up in frustration, and none are tedious. The 6th, 9th, and 11th island are my personal favourites so far. Also, lots of effort has been spent decorating the hold, and like Detention Complex, each room looks very nice.

Difficulty scales nicely, with the first few puzzles being quite easy, and the later ones much more tough. Overall, I'd give it 7-8 brains.

Haven't rated because I haven't finished - currently stuck on the 15th island, but so far it would gain a 9 for fun.

Overall, this is a fantastic hold (probably Penwielder's best so far), and anyone who has a fairly good grasp of the elements should definitely try this.

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[Last edited by da rogu3 at 07-19-2011 09:57 PM]

Dischorran
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3414
Registered: 09-10-2005
IP: Logged

This is a very solid hold! Aside from the general idea of the player's inability to attack monsters directly, what's perhaps most notable is that the island theme is extremely well sold. Rocks and bushes are seemingly randomly and naturally placed - until, of course, one tries to solve the room and realizes that the seemingly arbitrary bush is placed just right to block off the obvious solution. Plus, each island is very distinct, much more so than one might expect going into a themed hold like this.

As promised, it's quite hard - my version of what's-his-name, Thravo, never did make it through the last couple of islands. The first few are more accessible, though, so it's certainly worth a shot. Some familiarity with AC/AC2 and movement order and so on is probably not a bad idea.

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

Conquered!

This hold started pretty simple and quite fun, but not overly exciting. If the hold had only first ~8 islands it would probably get 7-8 fun rating from me. But...

Starting from 9th island, things were getting much tougher. I had a great deal of fun struggling through 9-16th islands...

...and the last two islands are totally, absolutely awesome. Very tricky, but for right reasons - the difficulty comes from figuring out the solution. It was very satisfying to solve them; they are one of the toughest and most fun DROD rooms I've played in a while.

This hold is definetily worth playing, especially for those who love difficult lynchpin puzzles. And don't hesitate to ask help in H&S if you're stuck.

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[Last edited by mxvladi at 07-24-2011 04:02 PM]

blorx1
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 920
Registered: 07-18-2009
IP: Logged

I'm back, and I managed to conquer this hold.
I'd say that this hold deserves more players since although those last few rooms are insane, it is a great hold. I definitely loved the last room. Thanks for making such a great hold!

I have to say that getting although the fourth place demos I consistently got on the last rooms sorta made me feel good until I realized that I was fourth of fourth.

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If you need to think outside of the box, then you didn't build a good enough box.