Okay, I found some time to play through it now. Took me a good 4.5 hours; that means a lot happened ... let's see if I can remember it all.
(Also makes me wish I recorded it. Not a full let's play with commentary, like FrozenFire, because I don't think I'd feel comfortable doing that. But it would help me remember things ... and you could see exactly what happened. Might do that in the future if I remember.)
I made some notes and screenshots though, so let me go through them ...
First I'll list all the bugs I found and then I'll give some general feedback/impressions.
OverworldI started the game by pretty much buying all items right away. I collected the 45 (?) rupees under the stairs in the first dungeon over and over again, so I had the money to do that.
1. (Minor) - I noticed that the shop theme doesn't repeat properly. After it fades out, there is a long period of silence before it starts again.
2. (Major (though not for this demo)) - Bombs didn't work at all. I could equip them, but if I pressed the item button nothing happened (not even an error sound).
3. (Major) - When I was hit at the edge of a screen and the knockback moved me outside of the screen (so a scrolling screen transition starts) I got the following message:
"Unknown Link status. Please report."
If I pressed OK (or enter) I got the message again the next frame. By continuing to do this (hold Enter), the scrolling transition happened normally (except for the message). During the transition Link wasn't visible. After the transition was completed, the message didn't appear again and everything was normal again (I could continue completely bug-free).
4. (Crash) - When I entered the 3rd room of the Waterworks I got a game maker error. I tried to get through this by pressing Ignore repeatedly, but this time that didn't work. Each frame I got a couple of errors (not always the same error, but after a while the errors repeated themselves); even after the room transition was completed (the scrolling happened normally). So I had to Abort eventually.
I have the whole error log in the attachments, but Ill Ive analyzed it a bit more:
The first 2 errors are unique:
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ERROR in
action number 2
of Other Event: User Defined 15
for object parent_Enemy_Creation:
In script script_Enemy_Create_Default:
Error in code at line 30:
last_created_id.destroy_creator_at_end = destroy_creator_at_end;
^
at position 43: Unknown variable destroy_creator_at_end
ERROR in
action number 2
of Other Event: User Defined 15
for object parent_Enemy_Creation:
In script script_Enemy_Create_Default:
Error in code at line 30:
last_created_id.destroy_creator_at_end = destroy_creator_at_end;
^
at position 43: Unknown variable destroy_creator_at_end
After that the following errors are repeated each frame:
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ERROR in
action number 2
of Step Event
for object parent_Enemy_Control:
In script script_AI_Bari:
Error in code at line 20:
if (status = c_Status_Stone or status = c_Status_Frozen or status = c_Status_Burning or status = c_Status_Stunned)
^
at position 10: Unknown variable status
ERROR in
action number 4
of Step Event
for object parent_Enemy_Control:
Error in code at line 2:
if ((status = c_Status_Stone and ignore_container_stone = false) or (status = c_Status_Frozen and ignore_container_ice = false))
^
at position 7: Unknown variable status
ERROR in
action number 6
of Step Event
for object parent_Enemy_Control:
Error in code at line 4:
if (status != c_Status_Frozen and status != c_Status_Stone and status != c_Status_Burning)
^
at position 10: Unknown variable status
ERROR in
action number 8
of Step Event
for object parent_Enemy_Control:
Error in code at line 4:
status_counter += 1;
^
at position 6: Unknown variable status_counter
ERROR in
action number 10
of Step Event
for object parent_Enemy_Control:
Error in code at line 2:
for (i=0; i<=attached_count-1; i+=1)
^
at position 15: Unknown variable attached_count
However, after some time (presumably after the scrolling finishes) the following errors ALSO happen each frame:
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ERROR in
action number 7
of End Step Event
for object obj_Character_Control:
In script script_Character_Event_Collisions_Center:
Error in code at line 53:
if (argument[3].ignore_collisions = false)
^
at position 42: Unknown variable ignore_collisions
ERROR in
action number 1
of End Step Event
for object obj_Character_Collision_Center:
In script script_Character_Event_Collisions_Center:
Error in code at line 53:
if (argument[3].ignore_collisions = false)
^
at position 42: Unknown variable ignore_collisions
I don't think I saw everything on the overworld. I found 3 heart pieces overall.
Dungeon 15. (Minor) - In one of the torch rooms I experienced some light-related bugs:
That only happened during the transition. Before and after that everything was normal.
When I walked up into the torch room again, the dark overlay flickered on again, but only for a split second (too fast to take a screenshot).
When I walked up the stairs, the overlay appeared as well:
However, those bugs only appeared after I visited the torch room. And if I went up the stairs and down again, the bugs didn't appear again UNTIL I walked into the torch room. After that the transitions were bugged until I changed floors.
(The torch was lit during all of this.)
6. (Minor) - The following gap appeared in the wall:
As you can see it changes size depending on Links position. If Link moves down, the gap size gradually increases until it is about 16 pixels long, then it jumps back to about 8 pixels long. Then it increases again ...
7. (Minor) - I was in the room AFTER the room with the 5 switches and the iron balls. The balls in my current room had no sound.
8. (Minor) - The bottle you get along with the Rod of Medu overwrites the first bottle slot. I already had a bottle in that slot (the one I bought). Basically, it says I found a bottle, but I had 3 bottles before and 3 bottles after I opened the chest. But this is very minor, as that chest (most likely) won't be in the final game.
9. (Major) - I got the following error while fighting the dungeon 1 boss:
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___________________________________________
ERROR in
action number 2
of End Step Event
for object parent_Character_Sprite_Detached:
In script script_Detached_Arrow:
Error in code at line 47:
creator_id.attached_count += 1;
^
at position 10: Unknown variable attached_count
It happened at the transition of the first phase to the second phase (and by second phase I mean the phase that is like the first one, except that the grey knights jump around as well occasionally).
I think I hit him with an arrow at that moment, but it was pretty hectic so I can't be sure. I was definitely shooting arrow though.
That's it for that dungeon, on to the next ...
Dungeon 2Oh boy, that dungeon. I'm surprised I made it through, actually. I hit so many (bug related) roadblocks, but in the end I somehow managed to get through it.
I did enjoy it though, even if it was frustrating at times.
First, let me ask something. Are you supposed to be able to lift the large wooden crates with the power glove? I kinda think that's the case, but I could't do it.
The power glove did enable me to pick up the small crates and the pots however. I could smash the large crates with them, so I got through most obstacles.
10. (Minor) - Graphical glitch in sanmola room: just a black bar:
11. (Major) - Cutscene freeze. This was the first roadblock I hit:
Basically, after lighting both torches with the lantern the cutscene started (black bars appeared), but then the cutscene didn't continue. The itself game didn't freeze; the torch animation continued and F4 still worked. I had to close the game with the task manager.
I retried this a few times but then gave up and continued through the dungeon.
Much later I tried something different and was able to trigger the cutscene correctly.
I lit the first torch, then walked all the way to the south wall and lit the second torch with the Fire Rod. The cutscene then played normally.
Maybe (This is what I thought) the cutscene froze because the moving wall was mostly outside the view. By positioning Link at the south wall, the moving wall was completely inside the view, and therefore didn't cause a freeze. That's just my theory though (and it worked for me).
12. (Major) - I mentioned that I could't pick up large crates. Well after I got the power glove I was stuck:
So it was Save+Quit for me.
13. (Annoyance) - A lot of switches don't stay permanently pressed. I mean they're semi-permanent. They stay pressed when you change floors, but not when you save+quit and reload the game. This includes the levers after the sanmola and lanmola fights:
So the door is closed even though I'm up there (I used the shortcut warp to get in).
This isn't that problematic, but I had to replay some parts of the dungeon every time I quit the game (and I had to do that quite often). So it's annoying.
14. (Minor) - When some autopilot enemies (aka enemis that mindlessly charge at you), like leevers, are at the end of some stairs ... then you can't go up/down those stairs:
The enemy hits me right back up the stairs every time. In this case it wasn't a problem, because there was another way down.
15. (---) - This room: (Btw, this isn't really a seperate bug; I just wanna tell a little story here
)
This was the bane of my existence. Normally (I expect) this is easy. You just lift those crates, go to the room below, press the switch, lift the crates again, and continue onwards.
However, I couldn't lift those large crates. I had to pick up one of those small crates, walk past two beamos without getting hit, and throw the small crate at a large crate.
The first beamos wasn't a problem. If I just kept walking I was fast enough to evade the beam.
The second beamos was much more difficult, because it's eye is higher than that of the first beamos. That means he could see farther over the edge, so he had a larger attack area. Example:
The first beamos doesn't see me.
The second beamos saw me even though I'm standing much further away.
I found a way to consistently get through, though:
First you have to stand in the 2.5 tile hallway, far away from the beamos, and wait for him to attack.
Dodge, then run clockwise around the beamos (so south of the beamos). Then you have to throw the crate as early as possible, just as the hallway gets narrow again. Then you can
just make it in time.
I have to say, if I'm wrong and this is the intended solution ... then this is one hell of an evil puzzle
.
But it doesn't end there. After I go to the next room and press the switch, the crates have respawned. So now I'm trapped. I can warp back to the beginning of the dungeon with Save+Quit, but that also resets the switch (because of Bug 13), so that's pointless. Finally I have the idea to use the Mirror. Because then the switch should stay pressed. I do it and discover this glitch: ...
16. (Major) - Bugged Mirror warp point:
You can't really see it there, but Link is stuck in the wall. Nothing I did could get him out of there (Not even dashing).
So this means I had to Save+Quit and do the beamos room again. And this was before I discovered the consistent method...
(The way I did it was using the other entrance. Because that mirror warp works correctly.)
17. (Minor) - Also in that beamos room (although that had nothing to do with it) I got the following error:
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___________________________________________
ERROR in
action number 4
of End Step Event
for object parent_Character_Sprite_Detached:
In script script_Character_Event_Collisions_Detached:
Error in code at line 422:
switch (argument[3].weight)
^
at position 70: Unknown variable weight
It appeared when I hit a skeleton with a crate.
18. (Minor) - The item text doesn't consider remapped keys. I had my map key set to T, but when I found the map it said to press E to open it. Yeah, very minor.
Okay, that was all the bugs I found ... now some general impressions + feedback:
I'll focus on the second dungeon, since that one is new, but first let me say something about the first one:
I thought the hint plates that were a nice in-universe way to help with some of the more difficult puzzles (the 5 switches + balls room; the carry pot over cracked floor room). Those weren't there the last time I played.
You have generally done a nice job to explain everything in-universe and I love that.
Both dungeons had both; a reason to exist
before they became dungeons, and a reason
why they became dungeons.
Those sort of details I appreciate very much.
In both dungeons you also had elements that would make sense to be there:
In the first dungeons it was the knight tombs/statues everywhere, and in the second dungeon you had things like the secret entrance which used to be an actual secret passageway, the sleeping quarters, etc.
I liked the improved the atmosphere brought by those things.
Related to that: I love the subtle storytelling in the second dungeon. You hear about all those things, ... that they didn't have enough food because the desert spread; that they had to abandon the palace. You also see this knight multiple times, could this be this Roy that has left messages everywhere? And at the end it is all revealed. I very much enjoyed that, despite some frustrations.
I found the boss reveal to be kind of funny, in a oh-!@#$% kind of way. First you have one, which is scary (and awesome!) looking enough, then comes the second. I honestly thought that was it, two seemed enough, but then the 3rd and 4th appeared
Made me laugh a bit.
The boss fight itself was kind of easy though, I thought it was easier than the lanmola fight. I don't exactly know why though.
I also loved the fact that you can actually see the power glove in Link's sprites. Awesome detail.
I thought the second pillar-pushing puzzle in the secret entrance was really clever. Because at first I didn't look at the color of the pillars and was confused for a short time.
Now about that pillar-pushing puzzle:
I found that to be kind of unintuitive.
It's clear that the solution is:
- put the pillar
up if the top pillar is black,
- and
down if the top pillar is white.
But I thought this was the solution:
- put the pillar
up if the top pillar is of a different color,
- and
down if the pillars' color matches.
That would look like this:
I think I thought this because
1. the top pillars and the bottom pillars share the same colors, (impiles importance of comparing top with bottom colors)
2. the left group and the right group of bottom pillars have a different color (implies color of bottom row is important)
Both of those assumptions are obviously wrong.
I think the best solution would be to make all bottom pillars an entirely different color (grey?? (because it is a mix of white and black), brown?? (because it already exists in the dungeon)), or at least make both eighter black or white.
The bad thing is that it wouldn't look as nice...
You could also argue that it makes the puzzle easier, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
In this puzzle you have multiple valid-seeming possible solutions, the difficulty is just trying out all solutions until you find the right one.
I think that the solution to a puzzle should be two things: it should be hard to find, but once you find it it should be obvious that it is the right solution.
Aaagh, what the hell am I saying ... other types of puzzles are ok as well, but this is a trait I like to have in some puzzles...
Eh, take from this whatever you want. It's very possible that I don't make sense anymore, I'm kind of tired now...
Btw. I played version 0.17.02. Feel free to ask for clarification. Sometimes I tend to word things awkwardly.
Edit:
specs:
- Intel QuadCore Q6600 (4 x 2.40GHz (not entirely sure...))
- 3 GB RAM
- Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT
- Windows Vista 32-bit
I experienced no noticeable constant slowdown.
When entering a new room there sometimes were some slight hiccups in the framerate (could be my computer; it does that in other games as well).
.