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Caravel Forum : DROD Boards : Holds : Halph Has a Bad Day (Winter 2005/6 Smitemasters Selection)
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Author Name:Eytan Zweig
Submitted By:eytanz
Hold Name:Halph Has a Bad Day
Theme:Winter 2005/6 Smitemasters Selection
Author's Difficulty:
Number of Levels:3
Number of Rooms:45
Number of Monsters:704
Version:DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold
High Scores:View High Scores
Hold Karma:10 (+10 / -0)
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icon Halph Has a Bad Day  
Halph. Even during the earliest days of JtRH development, I knew I didn't like the little brat. He's so annoyingly smug, that I figured Beethro would have been better just leaving him at home, even if that means that he would never have made it through level 3. I knew that while it looks like he's being really helpful to Beethro, if things were only a little bit different then Beethro would have had to spend most his time getting him out of trouble.

So, I decided to build a hold where that is the theme. Halph is occasionally useful in this hold, but most of the time, he's in some sort of danger that must be averted, or perhaps he's just simply in the way. This hold is sort of an alternate reality - it's what would have eventually happened, had Beethro not gone with Halph on that fateful trip down to the alternate enterance of King Dugan's Dungeon.

As is always the case, this hold would never have reached its current level of playability had it not been to a dedicated team of playtesters. I was lucky to have a team with some of the top people around - Onieromancer, Schik, Alefbet, Wallu, Tim, Ezlo, Mike Rimer, and Erik all provided great feedback, bug reports, script commenting, and general suggestions. Erik even filled in content to a room I left empty because I ran out of ideas, and added dialogue to rooms that I left silent. An excellent team of voice actors contributed the speech you'll hear as you play this (see cast credits below), and Erik and Mike provided the usual high level of voice editing.

I hope you have fun playing this little hold and find it an entertaining diversion - not too hard but not too easy either - perhaps while you get overly annoyed at Halph's antics during your exploration of JtRH and need the shoe to be on the other foot for once. In any case, it's been in development for a while, so I'm really glad that it's out now for you to enjoy.

Voice Actors:
Beethro - Sten Ryason
Halph - Tyler Downing
Cluegiver - Erik Hermansen
Hostile Guard - Steve Anderson
Ralph - Tyler Downing
Slayer - Michael Abbott
Golems - Jordan
Goblin 1 - Michael Abbott

[Last edited by mrimer at 03-14-2006 03:55 PM]
03-11-2006 at 07:28 AM
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Doom
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (0)  
And... mastery!

Most of the rooms were pretty enjoyable, and the few secret rooms were fun. My only complaint is that the last level was a bit repetitive. Also 3E in it was a little painful. Tiled floor and/or a checkpoint could've helped that.

I only found the second one of "the three" so far and guessed the rest... I guess I can't say I've truly mastered the hold before locating the rest of those...
03-11-2006 at 12:28 PM
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Banjooie
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+1)  
Doom, you...that hold hadn't even been out 5 hours.
03-11-2006 at 05:11 PM
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Oneiromancer
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (0)  
I coulda sworn Doom was part of the beta-testing team...but his name isn't listed so I guess not. That would have explained his speed in mastering the hold. Although this one is the smaller of the two Halph Stories holds.

Game on,

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03-12-2006 at 06:21 AM
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Doom
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (0)  
Oneiromancer wrote:
Although this one is the smaller of the two Halph Stories holds.
Yeah, but what fun would've it been to rush through Jacob's hold? That one I did test ;)

[Last edited by Doom at 03-15-2006 05:31 AM]
03-12-2006 at 12:41 PM
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Tahnan
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+1)  
This is perhaps the first hold I've played for which I've been one of the first people through it. Which means I had so many heartening "3rd place!" messages, being the third one to finish a room; on the other hand, my score on the hold has dropped 55 points in the last 12 hours....

I found the first two of "the three"--some day I'll have to find the third.

My favorite part of the hold, I have to admit, was the single line of dialogue: "What?" I had to restart the room just to hear it again. :-)
03-12-2006 at 06:17 PM
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coppro
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+1)  
I preferred "Could you please phrase that in the form of opening a door?"
03-12-2006 at 06:25 PM
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Sergenth
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (0)  
Now that I've nearly mastered this hold, I can say that this is an incredible collection of puzzles!

My favorite bits and pieces were:

- New, action-filled uses for Halph (new to me)
- The entire second level, Deeper Underground. Super high quality!
- Fun tricks on the player and unique secrets
- Infuriating encounters with goblins that finally forced to me to get some good goblin-sense, the same way all that exposure to tar in KDD and JtRH gave me higher tar-affinity. :medieval
03-14-2006 at 06:02 AM
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larrymurk
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (0)  
I've completed the hold, but have:

Click here to view the secret text


What now?
03-15-2006 at 06:16 PM
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robin
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (0)  
Click here to view the secret text


EDIT:
Click here to view the secret text


____________________________
Click here to view the secret text


[Last edited by robin at 03-15-2006 06:39 PM]
03-15-2006 at 06:31 PM
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eytanz
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+1)  
robin wrote:
Click here to view the secret text

No, he would have 1/2 secrets in that case.

Click here to view the secret text



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03-15-2006 at 06:57 PM
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robin
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+1)  
Click here to view the secret text


it's a long shot, but I gues I'm pretty close ;)

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03-15-2006 at 08:23 PM
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eytanz
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (0)  
Oh, good point. You're probably right.

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03-15-2006 at 08:28 PM
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larrymurk
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (0)  
I found the riddler and the door to nowhere clue.

Should I be looking for more secret walls?
03-15-2006 at 08:43 PM
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eytanz
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No. Just find the other two clues, and figure out how to solve the riddle.

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03-15-2006 at 09:21 PM
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larrymurk
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I like the uses of Halph on the first level. I wish the entire hold could've involved maneuvering Halph in new and unusual ways.

A couple of rooms on the 2nd level scared me (2N1W & 2N) because they looked potentially extremely difficult. It ended up that these rooms were given a great deal of "wiggle room" making them extremely easy. I wish they were perhaps made a little smaller, but with less "wiggle room" so they'd take some thought.

3rd level seemed like too many goblin-based rooms. It'd have worked better in a huge hold or in one named "Goblin Adventures".

In any case, fun hold that I enjoyed playing although I'm clearly not much of a scavenger (OK, finally got it)..

[Last edited by larrymurk at 03-16-2006 08:58 PM]
03-15-2006 at 09:56 PM
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coppro
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+1)  
I'll give you one little hint:

Click here to view the secret text


Try the restore function.
03-16-2006 at 01:02 AM
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zoombini
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Arrrgggghhhh. Too many goblins on the third level.
03-16-2006 at 01:42 PM
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Blondbeard
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+1)  
Okay. I'm going to give a little (hopefully constructive) critiscism. Mainly I agree with all that larrymurk has said.

The first level I liked. It was nice and witty.

The second level contained too many trial and error rooms. Like the room with all the golems, the bomb and the mimic. It wasn't very hard, but where is the fun with solving a room if you just do it by sheer dumb luck? There are also some rooms which isn't hard, but quite tedious. These kind of rooms just leaves a bad aftertaste after you have finished them. Most of the rooms where good though. And the dialog is nice. I love the concept about the room with the trapped guard which ends up helping Beethro.

The third level felt quite repetetive. There where some good rooms, mainly those including golems. But some of the rooms where a bit tedious. Also one or two just felt like "passing through" rooms.

My point is that some of the parts where really good, but the (in my opinion) bad parts where quite bad. All in all I rated the hold a 7.
03-17-2006 at 07:22 AM
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michthro
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OK, my two cents: Basically, larrymurk and Blondbeard said it all.
I really enjoyed the dialog. My favourite is: "I hate it when they do this." Having my feelings echoed by Beethro made me feel better. I was actually laughing, instead of cursing.
The first level is good, with some nice Halph manipulation puzzles.
The second level is very good, except for a couple of tedious rooms. When I saw all the orbs in 2N1W, I got this sinking feeling, but then I saw that the idea is very clear, and I liked it. As Larry said, too much leeway though. 1S1W wasn't so bad, but there are too many golems. After the interesting part where you blow up a lot of them, you're still facing a golem horde, which I hate.
Level 3: Yes, repetitive and too War-like, or perhaps rather skirmish-like, in the sense that it's just some random goblin/golem rooms. However, I think people are being a little harsh. It's not that bad. It really is easy enough to get through quickly, and only becomes a bit tedious if you try and do well. 3E is a nice Halph puzzle again. Anyway, I don't see how it takes anything away from the good levels.

All in all, very enjoyable.
03-17-2006 at 08:25 AM
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KevG
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Overall, I really enjoyed this hold. My only real, yet minor, complaint would be that I was dissappointed that Halph wasn't used more on levels 2 and 3; I was looking forward to developing more "Stupid Halph Tricks" while optimizing. Well, I guess I should start Beethro and the Secret Society.

I especially enjoyed the goblin rooms on level 3. In particular the goblin/golem rooms provided a nice optimizing challenge. Of course my view of this level might be influenced by the fact that I currently have half of the #1s on the level. (Which should last until Michthro realises I just beat him on 1S4E.)

Anyway, while I'm here, I've spent at least an hour in practically every room on level 3. I still haven't figured out where the heck the secret room is. Any pointers in the right direction?
03-17-2006 at 07:39 PM
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Mikko
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+1)  
Hint for finding the secret room on level 3:

Click here to view the secret text

03-17-2006 at 08:04 PM
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KevG
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Thanks Mikko, that did the trick.
03-17-2006 at 08:18 PM
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michthro
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KevG wrote:
I especially enjoyed the goblin rooms on level 3. In particular the goblin/golem rooms provided a nice optimizing challenge. Of course my view of this level might be influenced by the fact that I currently have half of the #1s on the level. (Which should last until Michthro realises I just beat him on 1S4E.)
Ah, thanks for the heads-up. ;) Yes, as I said, level 3 really isn't so bad. If you just want to get through, it's easy enough, and if you really go for optimising, such as when you get involved in a battle with KevG, it actually becomes plenty fun.
03-17-2006 at 08:58 PM
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stigant
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Good hold. The first level had some nice Halph puzzles. Interestingly, Halph is always in the way, but always essential to the solving of the room as well. It was a nice balance. I wish level 2 had involved more Halph, but as a conventional level, all the rooms are very well made and interesting puzzles. A nice variety of techniques. The third level was probably the weakest of the three. But there were some nice puzzles with golems and goblins. You have to find the right places to kill the golems so that you can coral the goblins and still get out safely.

I found the 2nd and 3rd clues, and guessed at the first clue. I think the clue is in
Click here to view the secret text

but I don't know where to go to get it. Can somebody confirm that the room is right and/or give me a hint.

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03-19-2006 at 02:01 PM
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KevG
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+1)  
The room is wrong; for this clue you'll be able to verify immediately if you have the right room.
Click here to view the secret text

03-19-2006 at 04:34 PM
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stigant
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Ah, thanks. I was thinking that 2 of the snakes were small and the third was large.

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03-19-2006 at 07:56 PM
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Banjooie
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+2)  
There is one reason that this is the greatest hold produced.

Click here to view the secret text

03-28-2006 at 10:04 AM
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jbluestein
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This has the honor of being the first hold which I've actually mastered, and it was definitely fun.

Level One (Into the Woods) was my favorite, with some very good Halph puzzles.

Level Two (Deeper Underground) had some more good puzzles, some of which took me a good long while to solve. I was a little disappointed to see Halph not get used much on this level, though.

Level Three (The Chase), well...I agree with others when they say 'too many goblins'. It's good practice, but there's only so much gobbo manipulation I can get excited about. The rooms with more Halph action were a lot of fun, though.

In the final accounting, I'd say that I did quite enjoy the hold, so good job eytanz!



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04-03-2006 at 05:12 PM
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NeonElephant
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icon Re: Halph Has a Bad Day (+1)  
I don't have much to add, other than another voice to the chorus of "nice hold!"...

I, too, thought the third level felt a little ... uninspired. Had it been the first level, followed by the other two, I probably would have forgotten all about it ... maybe I just hate goblins. The rooms were all interesting, but somehow most of them felt indistinct.

The first two levels had a number of amusing, surprising, and all-around excellent rooms (to say nothing of variety).

Click here to view the secret text

05-08-2006 at 08:53 PM
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