Sorry, I do not speak French! :-(
OK. After my bug reports above, here comes a review (in English, obviously) of this game (version 1.0 on Solarus 1.6.0).
First, about me:
I have completed the game in about ... I don't know how long, but I didn't rush to the Memories Tower, instead I wanted to find everything, but eventually I went to the final boss, and that took me 8 hours then (I guess).
I think I have seen almost everything in the game, but I just cannot find the freaking final power moon. I am pretty sure it must be in Memories Tower, level 4F because that's the last room I cannot reach. I see a crack in the wall in the "cannon ball room", but I have no idea how to cross the gap, no matter which tools I use, and I have all item slots filled. Maybe I will figure it out. One day ...
Anyway, I have completed the main game, the "Hardcore Gamer" and "Speedrunner" achievements. My main safe file is now at almost 10 hours playtime (this includes the hunt for all hidden items, which is not complete yet). Yes, I'm a fairly seasoned player.
Now for the game:
Overall, I had very much fun playing it. It was a great time.
I think the main fun of this game actually comes from all the outside world, because there are quite some things to do. The game isn't as short as it seems (as I said, my main safegame is at nearly 10h), I think you're "underselling" it.
The Memories Tower is also nice, but there are so many sidequests, secrets, etc. in the outside world that the outside world is a game in its own right. It's much more complex than the Memories Tower. There's just that one moon that drives me nuts. But you know that already.
Basically this game is similar to all the other Zelda clones, but that's good. What I really liked was the addition of the Power Moons, some other collectible and the fact that you can exchange those moons for rewards. It's nice to have something different than the standard heart containers as the "rare hidden items". There's just that ONE moon that is driving me crazy, but I'll get it ... eventually.
The way the moon radar works was pretty confusing, especially in Memories Tower. In Memories Tower, I have, in some instances, heard the moon radar signal in multiple connected rooms (but not for the whole floor!), but once I found the moon in one of them, the signal disappeared in all of the rooms. So I thought the moon radar is supposed to report the signal for each room separately, but it turned out it can also apply for a set of rooms. Weird.
And in other dungeons, the signal seems to be per-floor instead of per-room. That's even more confusing. I don't really understand why you made it so. This is confusingly inconsistent. It took me a while to figure it out.
I don't like the moon radar is only audible. What if the sound is off? I suggest to display an icon somewhere, too, should the moon radar find something.
What I didn't like was that it's not possible to review the item description. Once you got the item, you have the chance to read the description ONCE, then the text disappears forever. In ZSDX, you can review the item description of all items in the inventory. If a player returns to the game after a long time, this can be a problem. Otherwise, the GUI system of the game is solid, apart from a little bug I reported earlier.
One minor thing in Memory Tower was annoying me, it was that room in B1 with the flying tiles. It's annoying because you have to repeatedly enter it to flip the crystal trigger it. I usually just hide behind the vases and wait ... But that's a fairly minor annoyance.
Otherwise I'm happy with the dungeon and level design.
It's good you added the tutorial books because the fact that you must hold the required item in hand in order to proceed the trade quest is definitely NOT obvious. And hey, even an unexpected hint to find some power moons!
I also like the tileset, something different than the other Solarus games. I like the fog effects and the day/night system graphics. The game has a nice overall "feel" to it.
The plot ... Well, there isn't really one. It's a bit silly if you ask me. But I did like the NPCs all over the world, they almost told a little story themselves. But the overall plot is more like an excuse plot. Silly coder humor ... xD
There are some minor plot holes: Like, when you catch the con artist and he returns to his house, he tells you he will leave soon but he never actually leaves. Or after rescuing the dude on the SOS island, the SOS doesn't disappear (but maybe the guy was just too lazy to remove the SOS or whatever, so feel free to ignore this). Or that once you bought all items from the basement shop in the village, nothing really happens. The shopkeeper doesn't close the basement, or moves to a different house, or re-furnishes the basement. No, nothing.
The music is great but sadly, I notice it's pretty low audio quality. I mean, it seems the compression ratio is way too agressive, and the sound quality suffers noticably. It would be nice if you could upload a version with HQ music.
The game is stable. I did not find any real serious bugs in the game, only a few minor ones (see above). Much better than ZBOM, which was EXTREMELY buggy when I first played it (it has been improved since).
It's a good game. Definitely worth recommending. This game seems to have been greatly underappreciated by this community, which is an absolute shame. Maybe post an English version of this thread so the game becomes visible to a larger audience. I think because this thread starts in French, it is mostly ignored.
Keep up the good work, and I am looking forward to see part 3 of the series!
Where is part 1 of the series?
OK. After my bug reports above, here comes a review (in English, obviously) of this game (version 1.0 on Solarus 1.6.0).
First, about me:
I have completed the game in about ... I don't know how long, but I didn't rush to the Memories Tower, instead I wanted to find everything, but eventually I went to the final boss, and that took me 8 hours then (I guess).
I think I have seen almost everything in the game, but I just cannot find the freaking final power moon. I am pretty sure it must be in Memories Tower, level 4F because that's the last room I cannot reach. I see a crack in the wall in the "cannon ball room", but I have no idea how to cross the gap, no matter which tools I use, and I have all item slots filled. Maybe I will figure it out. One day ...
Anyway, I have completed the main game, the "Hardcore Gamer" and "Speedrunner" achievements. My main safe file is now at almost 10 hours playtime (this includes the hunt for all hidden items, which is not complete yet). Yes, I'm a fairly seasoned player.
Now for the game:
Overall, I had very much fun playing it. It was a great time.
I think the main fun of this game actually comes from all the outside world, because there are quite some things to do. The game isn't as short as it seems (as I said, my main safegame is at nearly 10h), I think you're "underselling" it.
The Memories Tower is also nice, but there are so many sidequests, secrets, etc. in the outside world that the outside world is a game in its own right. It's much more complex than the Memories Tower. There's just that one moon that drives me nuts. But you know that already.
Basically this game is similar to all the other Zelda clones, but that's good. What I really liked was the addition of the Power Moons, some other collectible and the fact that you can exchange those moons for rewards. It's nice to have something different than the standard heart containers as the "rare hidden items". There's just that ONE moon that is driving me crazy, but I'll get it ... eventually.
The way the moon radar works was pretty confusing, especially in Memories Tower. In Memories Tower, I have, in some instances, heard the moon radar signal in multiple connected rooms (but not for the whole floor!), but once I found the moon in one of them, the signal disappeared in all of the rooms. So I thought the moon radar is supposed to report the signal for each room separately, but it turned out it can also apply for a set of rooms. Weird.
And in other dungeons, the signal seems to be per-floor instead of per-room. That's even more confusing. I don't really understand why you made it so. This is confusingly inconsistent. It took me a while to figure it out.
I don't like the moon radar is only audible. What if the sound is off? I suggest to display an icon somewhere, too, should the moon radar find something.
What I didn't like was that it's not possible to review the item description. Once you got the item, you have the chance to read the description ONCE, then the text disappears forever. In ZSDX, you can review the item description of all items in the inventory. If a player returns to the game after a long time, this can be a problem. Otherwise, the GUI system of the game is solid, apart from a little bug I reported earlier.
One minor thing in Memory Tower was annoying me, it was that room in B1 with the flying tiles. It's annoying because you have to repeatedly enter it to flip the crystal trigger it. I usually just hide behind the vases and wait ... But that's a fairly minor annoyance.
Otherwise I'm happy with the dungeon and level design.
It's good you added the tutorial books because the fact that you must hold the required item in hand in order to proceed the trade quest is definitely NOT obvious. And hey, even an unexpected hint to find some power moons!
I also like the tileset, something different than the other Solarus games. I like the fog effects and the day/night system graphics. The game has a nice overall "feel" to it.
The plot ... Well, there isn't really one. It's a bit silly if you ask me. But I did like the NPCs all over the world, they almost told a little story themselves. But the overall plot is more like an excuse plot. Silly coder humor ... xD
There are some minor plot holes: Like, when you catch the con artist and he returns to his house, he tells you he will leave soon but he never actually leaves. Or after rescuing the dude on the SOS island, the SOS doesn't disappear (but maybe the guy was just too lazy to remove the SOS or whatever, so feel free to ignore this). Or that once you bought all items from the basement shop in the village, nothing really happens. The shopkeeper doesn't close the basement, or moves to a different house, or re-furnishes the basement. No, nothing.
The music is great but sadly, I notice it's pretty low audio quality. I mean, it seems the compression ratio is way too agressive, and the sound quality suffers noticably. It would be nice if you could upload a version with HQ music.
The game is stable. I did not find any real serious bugs in the game, only a few minor ones (see above). Much better than ZBOM, which was EXTREMELY buggy when I first played it (it has been improved since).
It's a good game. Definitely worth recommending. This game seems to have been greatly underappreciated by this community, which is an absolute shame. Maybe post an English version of this thread so the game becomes visible to a larger audience. I think because this thread starts in French, it is mostly ignored.
Keep up the good work, and I am looking forward to see part 3 of the series!
Where is part 1 of the series?
