davidatk100
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 42
Registered: 11-27-2007
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As per the subject, what is your favorite hold(s)? I want to know about the best of the best. The crème de la crème. The pick of the bunch. The hidden gems. The forgotten treasure. Which hold(s) That have a special place in your memory and give you warm fuzzies. That deserve a recognition in the Hall of Fame.

I have two:

-Choose Your Own Adventure, specifically the Shape Shifting level.

-Ghostsmiters (I'm including the original and prequel).


Both of my favorites have unique mechanics but you're favorites may be good enough without. I'm keen to know what everyone else thinks.

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[Last edited by davidatk100 at 01-30-2019 11:47 PM]

Insoluble
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1638
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I also absolutely love the Ghostsmiters holds and am glad to hear someone else sing their praises! I'm having a hard time picking just one or two holds to call the best of all time. There are so many great ones that are good in different ways. You of course have the standard answers of the top rated holds. Things like Gigantic Jewel Lost and Advanced Concepts. But if I had to pick personal favorites I'd probably go with these:

Blackout:


A Day at the Beach:


Random Obsessive:


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mauvebutterfly
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 720
Registered: 05-03-2015
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I'm not sure what I'd consider to be my favourite hold. Maybe the Take 5 Contest compilation, since I found it to be a really interesting study in difficulty.

My favourite room is in the Custom Element Contest. Wish that thing would get published one of these days.

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106th Skywatcher

Dying Flutchman
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 406
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There's a whole bunch of brilliant holds out three. So for me, a hold really stands out if there's a compelling storyline experience as well as nice puzzles. So my number ones would be:

Gigantic jewel lost [really, this is probably the greatest hold architecture effort ever undertaken, save the official holds].

Terrakept resonant

Archipelago [very short, and the puzzles would not necessarily hook you up themselves, but the combination of good puzzles and a very neat little story did it for me]

Although they lack story, Advanced Concepts and AC 2 are simply must-plays. Blind race #5 indeed deserves praise.

Last but not least: For the sake of succulent burgers.

PS / afterthought: LarryMurk

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Autocorrect is not my friend. Apologies for the typos.

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[Last edited by Dying Flutchman at 01-31-2019 07:37 AM]

Nuntar
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 4590
Registered: 02-20-2007
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The Second Sky is an obvious pick. It has everything: incredible storyline and world-building, great puzzles, a wide variety of room types, and the introduction of gentryii Sure, there are a couple of not-so-great levels, but going through the hold for the first time was still the most awesome experience DROD has given me, and getting through levels like EoA was a major confidence boost.

Then again, you probably wanted to hear more about the usermade holds I like

Simon's Dungeon and Chaco's Hold stood out from the holds I attempted when I first played DROD. I had a long hiatus from DROD because I didn't feel good enough, and when I came back after TSS, going back to these holds and finally finishing them off was a great feeling. In particular, Simon's Dungeon helped me a lot with learning how to manipulate wraithwings, and I really like the sense of exploration that Chaco's Hold creates with its interconnected levels.

From the post-TSS era, it's hard to choose favourites because there have been so many great holds. Curiosity, Delay, Gardeviance and Outings with a Delver have all been an absolute blast to play, but I think Pickle Cellar just edges them out. It's a beautifully constructed hold that restricts itself to minimal elements (there are not even any force arrows in the entire hold!) and still manages to produce a great selection of linchpin puzzles. Some holds are must-plays. Pickle Cellar is a must-study for new architects.

Finally, I have to mention the soon-coming King Nareik's Dungeon, which has a similar structure with restricted elements and levels themed on one element at a time, but with the astounding kicker that it's constructed in AE, and shows the full potential of DROD's oldest game elements.

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50th Skywatcher

navithmastero
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 596
Registered: 01-03-2012
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Dying Flutchman wrote:
Last but not least: For the sake of succulent burgers.

Heh, thanks DF, I think I might have something you'll like in the pipeline too!

As for holds, I don't wanna pick a favourite but I will say that I really admire how Insoluble tries to create very player friendly puzzles but which can still be tough at the same time. I also think that Doom, Blorx and Larry all need a mention for being real pioneers of difficulty within the community, each with a unique and recognisable style.

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Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
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I always have a hard time answering questions like this since it's hard to directly compare the quality of ideas. I guess like some other posts here I'll just pick out three holds without necessarily saying which one I think is absolutely supreme. In general I can also highly recommend any hold that won an award in any of the past People's Choice Awards.

Curiosity by kieranmillar is a great example of a "standard" DROD hold - multiple levels, themed levels by either monster or element, a mixture of neat tactical or long-form strategical topics with regards to each one. Very few moments of frustration, lots of great contemplative moments. Just real fun from start to finish, and a lot of content to enjoy before it's done.

Compass Point by RoboBob is a small, self-contained hold with an extremely strong storytelling and aesthetic theme - the puzzles themselves are more of a miscellaneous tactics-type, with the consistent feature of not being able to turn your sword, but the individual rooms vary greatly as to what exactly you're doing in them. Really fun and with a lot of great optional content despite the small size.

Simplicity by Tim is probably one of the most subtly influential holds on modern DROD puzzle design. From the AE era, it nonetheless expects the player to understand roach movement and level geometry very thoroughly, and holds up well even to modern standards. Roaches, yellow doors and trapdoors are all simple tools that have withstood the test of time; here you better make sure you know everything that can be done with them, as well as how to think outside the box.

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Professor Tio
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 100
Registered: 01-30-2019
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I haven't really completed that many holds yet, but I know for sure:
- Beethro's Dream. That one goes straight up to the top. Some ideas I've had for puzzles could probably be compared to that hold's selection (exhibit C, card-flipping), though that may just be me. (Also I really need to work on being able to do 6-brain holds better, good grief)
- Take 5 Contest hold, I like how a lot of those puzzles work out.
- Blackout. I've always liked weeping angel varieties, so to see a variant work in DROD like they do here was attention-grabbing to say the least.

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Hold stuff I guess!
I had an avatar at some point but then the thing stopped cooperating, ah well-

Bent
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 92
Registered: 12-11-2015
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I’ve played DROD for around ten years, and I’m now realizing just how many good holds I’ve played. My favorites include some of the holds already mentioned here, such as Gigantic Jewel Lost, A Day at the Beach, and Compass Point, as well as the Magic Show holds and Perfection by LarryMurk. There’s also a lot of lesser known holds I have fond memories of playing, such as:

Rescue Operation by Rheb:
Do It Again by Jokokoe:
Koenigsburg Swamps by incnone:
Narrow Perspectives by skell:
Reflections by Jacob:
One Step Ahead by hartleyhair:
Also, seeing people mention Ghostsmiters in a thread like this made me really happy!

chesse20
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 28
Registered: 02-08-2019
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i just bought the game drod 4 thats the only hold ive played im still playing it Lol