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Caravel Forum : DROD Boards : Holds : Beethro's Dream (Custom element puzzles)
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7.9/10 (8 votes)
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Author Name:SDK
Submitted By:disoriented
Hold Name:Beethro\'s Dream
Theme:Custom element puzzles
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Number of Levels:6
Number of Rooms:39
Number of Monsters:1034
Version:DROD: The Second Sky (5.0.2)
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Hold Karma:21 (+22 / -1)
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File: Beethros Dream.hold (545.4 KB)
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icon Beethro's Dream  
Some custom element puzzles
10-29-2017 at 10:12 PM
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Insoluble
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icon Re: Beethro's Dream (+3)  
Disoriented has been showing a predilection for scripting other puzzle games into DROD ever since the "sphere frontier" and "trapdoor war" levels of Gardeviance. He's done it again more recently in the excellent "Sticks and Stones" level in the Hold Title Mixup Contest. But this is the first time that he's taken this concept and made an entire hold around it. In Beethro's Dream You'll find four different and completely unique levels, each based on a different computer puzzle game. The result is a hold that feels very fresh and different, but still tickles the same puzzle itch that makes DROD so enjoyable.

The hold is mostly open format (only the final level isn't accessible from the start), and it makes great use of a level map to provide access to any of the three starting puzzle games. I wasn't familiar with any of these games before playing the hold (except for the Desert Island one which is based on the same game as "Sphere Frontier") but disoriented has done a terrific job translating these games into the DROD engine. The rules for each game are pretty clear from the outset and there's no guess-the-scripting nonsense. Everything is pure and perfect puzzle fun. The puzzles here are really nice too. Most of them hit a nice 6 to 7 brain difficulty level and can be reasoned out logically without having to resort to trial and error. I particularly enjoyed the final level with it's reliance on keeping track of your position in cycles of 3 and 2 to make way through a maze of moving objects. But all the levels were a lot of fun once I got a handle of how to think about the mechanics involved.

This is one of the best "concept" holds I've played in a long time, and hope to see more of these from disoriented (though I wouldn't complain to see a more traditional DROD hold from him either!) This is definitely worth checking out if only to see what the different puzzle games are like. It's very low commitment since you can access most everything from the start, and chances are you'll be as hooked as I was.

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11-13-2017 at 09:55 PM
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Karipto
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icon Re: Beethro's Dream (+1)  
Fun little hold, I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would, given that custom element holds seem to be hit or miss for me (usually miss). I think it helps that the rules of each game are pretty straightforward.

For the games themselves, the feather matching was probably my favorite of the bunch. Even though most of these puzzles weren't very difficult, I found it fun trying to optimize most of these rooms.

The one with the + and - orbs was probably my least favorite, but that might just be because I got stuck on 1N for a while and needed to look up a hint. :P Some of the puzzle designs ended up seeming complex enough to where I often felt lucky to solve a room, even though I usually had a general idea of what needed to be done - actually doing it was the tricky part.

Commanding the robots was pretty fun, although most of the puzzles didn't seem too complex. The 4 part one was rather tricky, but other than that, I ended up wishing the level lasted a bit longer.

The final level was pretty neat, although again I found myself feeling lucky to get through some parts. I think I started to get a better grasp of how to safely traverse the elements of this level at the second half of the last room, which is a bit of a shame.

My only other gripe with this hold is that all the secret rooms were in one level. Oddly enough, I didn't find these puzzles too challenging (then again, that's comparing it to 1N, which I thought was evil). Anyway, I would've liked to see secret rooms on the other levels too, although I understand perhaps those games didn't lend themselves particularly well to difficulty increases (though, arguably, a couple of the required rooms could've qualified - 5N of the giant tree, and 2N1E of the robot level come to mind).

Anyway, I rate this a 5.5 for difficulty, and a 7 for fun.
04-23-2021 at 06:24 AM
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