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Level: Legendary Smitemaster
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File: Dungeon of Broken Orbs.hold (112.1 KB)
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Hi everybody. Here comes the long wished-for sequel to Tar Gate Stronghold. Don’t worry though, I can’t promise it will be any easier than TGS, but I can promise it won’t include any tar gate puzzles. The Tar Gate Slayers have now decided to make a dungeon based upon broken orbs instead.

… Err… what puzzles can you possibly do with broken orbs???

Well, you can always do something I guess… At least that’s what I told myself when I started working on this dungeon.

Well, I can’t really say all rooms main feature are broken orbs. Many rooms merely include them. This hold features a bunch of aumtlich manipulation rooms, some bomb, mimic and decoy puzzles and also a couple of optimizing rooms, (most of them are in the later levels, as I know many people in the forums aren’t as found of optimizing puzzles as I am).

As always, huge thanks to the beta testers who helped me improve the hold. It’s them you should thank for some of the optimizing rooms being so easy not being as horribly though as they used to be, and it is them you should thank for some of the bomb rooms being so needlessly simple: Dischorran, Blondbeard and CuriousShyRabbit.

I hope you’ll enjoy the hold! It’s definitely one of my best

CuriousShyRabbit
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3170
Registered: 10-14-2006
IP: Logged

Here's the latest challenge from Rheb!

You may remember the intriguing broken orb puzzles in The Middle Plane, Rheb's entry in last spring's Holds al Dente 2 contest. In Dungeon of Broken Orbs, he has explored (almost) every possible use of broken orbs in puzzles. Break them all, don't break any, activate them without breaking, break them without activating; and do this all using bombs, aumtlich, doubles or regular old Beethro. The difficulty ranges from medium to very challenging. Fortunately, this time Rheb has been kind enough to include a short tutorial level, where he explains the important game element behavior used in these puzzles.

All the levels are very well done, but Power Crush must be the most unique of them all. In the puzzles on this level, two orb crushing events must happen on a given turn.

There's also a story. And as part of the story, there's a certain stabbing cutscene. That cutscene gets the Rabbit's personal award for best stabbing cutscene ever. No other cutscene has ever so accurately depicted my feelings after solving a hold full of puzzles like these.

Well done, Rheb!

Blondbeard
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1486
Registered: 03-31-2005
IP: Logged

Some of the secret rooms are evil. Evil I tell you!

Edit: Despite being a tester this is the first time I playd it in a long time, and I really like how the story turned out. I chuckled at quite a few places, and it actually made me feel pity for an Aumtlich! Also it was the first time I played through some of the secret rooms. Somehow they where less evil than I thought

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[Last edited by Blondbeard at 11-13-2008 06:21 PM]

Rheb
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1211
Registered: 08-04-2006
IP: Logged

It's finally out! I just want to add special thanks to CuriousShyRabbit and Rabscuttle, who helped me during the HA process.

____________________________
Voligner is my very own DROD-like game. Please check it out!

Dischorran
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 3407
Registered: 09-10-2005
IP: Logged

This is a great hold, and should be played.

I never thought so much could be done with such an obscure element as broken orbs. I was wrong, and this hold is a case study of just how wrong I could be. Rheb's done an excellent job exhausting the possibilities of these things in a variety of devious ways, and has created a well-polished hold to boot with some very nice custom floors.

Granted, a few of these rooms perhaps border on unfair, although Rheb was gracious enough to make them unrequired (in particular, the timers tend to be just a turn or two too short to make me happy). But, well, it's a Rheb hold, so of course it's hard. It's well worth playing!

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zwetschenwasser
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 200
Registered: 05-22-2007
IP: Logged

Whoa! Hard, hard, and more hard! I feel embarrassed that I'm barely playing the tutorial and I'm already stuck! Very beautiful hold!

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Currently working on GaTEB and KDD (never finished the silly thing).

Neather2
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 406
Registered: 07-18-2006
IP: Logged

WOOT! This is an AWESOME hold! Excellent grapich, excellent ideas, excellent in difficult!
I'm giving 10 for this hold, and who knows me, knows that i'm not giving 10 easy.

And also, playng all Rheb's holds, i'm figure out that Rheb is one of the better architects around here. Congrats.

Really excellent job!

Click here to view the secret text

×Here why you're the architect of the SMS, lol.

____________________________
Nothing to say. I just play the game. And you, sir, should play it too.

Conspiracy, my new hold, has just been released.

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[Last edited by Neather2 at 02-22-2009 01:26 PM]

Banjooie
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1645
Registered: 12-12-2004
IP: Logged

There you are, Banjo.

Neather2
Level: Smiter

Rank Points: 406
Registered: 07-18-2006
IP: Logged

Yeah, there are a lot of hilarious dialogue too here.

____________________________
Nothing to say. I just play the game. And you, sir, should play it too.

Conspiracy, my new hold, has just been released.

jbluestein
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1670
Registered: 12-23-2005
IP: Logged

Well, I feel kind of sad watching the number of posts in the last 24 hours slowly shrinking...and plus I'm almost almost done with this hold.

I have made it to the final level and it looks as though I have only two required rooms to beat in order to conquer the hold...although it could be more than that.

As usual, Rheb has produced a fantastic hold. The puzzles here are completely unlike anything I've seen before, and they have just about the right mix of 'Clearly Impossible' and 'What Happens If I Do It *This* Way?'.

Make no mistake, this is a powerfully difficult hold, but I think Rheb manages to present that difficulty in a way that appeals to me the most: Once you figure out how to do a room, you can just go ahead and do it -- no need for hours of implementation.

I'm not going to formally rate the hold until I conquer it, but I anticipate being able to give it a 10 rating and 9 brains.

Josh

____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

jbluestein
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1670
Registered: 12-23-2005
IP: Logged

Aand...Completed. The 10 for fun, 9 brains is spot on.

(I still have a lot of rooms to beat before mastery -- I think I've managed to beat three, maybe four of the secret rooms so far.)

Josh

____________________________
"Rings and knots of joy and grief, all interlaced and locking." --William Buck

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

Finally postmastered.

This is an excellent hold. Even though broken orb is such an obscure element, puzzles were great.

Too bad I couldn't have 100% explored in postmastery level, though - I'd love to when I'm aiming to do so.

I'm not sure how to rate this hold, though - when I started it I needed help for many of rooms there, but now I've managed to finish it without looking at H&S board at all...
7 brains seems fine.
and 10 for fun.

(P.S. in postmastery level 1S 5W its possible to do things one turn better than intended. Too bad this didn't improve my score for that room )

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[Last edited by mxvladi at 03-31-2010 07:53 PM]

Yur-Val
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 66
Registered: 12-21-2009
IP: Logged

File: 1 Dobo.jpg (130.8 KB)
Downloaded 119 times.
License: Public Domain

It could complicate

komachi
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 158
Registered: 07-30-2012
IP: Logged

And conquered!. It's awesome how can the broken orb have a hold around it and it's rather tricky and hard. I needed to see H&S forum in some rooms and the last room (orb 1N 1E) I almost needed a demo because I wanted to see the ending.

Level 1 I was saying "Nooo, Don't do that" to the aumtlichs because they gaze at orbs at 1S and 1W.
Level 2 1N 1E it's my favourite room of the hold.
Level 3 was the best level, needing to destroy all the orbs in a exact amount of turns and the aumtlichs rooms in the south after those rooms was a break.
The orb, 1N 1E is easily the best room of the hold. Almost needed a demo because I was doing it in the wrong way .
After I tried the right way everything was better.
And the ending dialog was pretty hilarious after conquer the hold.
I give it 8,5 brains and 10 fun.

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[Last edited by komachi at 12-30-2015 04:37 PM]