ZFGC
ZFGC CP => King of Thieves => Topic started by: Zaeranos on October 13, 2012, 12:32:15 pm
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Awaiting approval to be transfered to the Wiki:
Item: Deku Nuts
Found on certain trees and sold in certain shops. Deku nuts are an item you may assign to one of your item buttons. Using a deku nut on the overworld will cause a flash and a cloud of smoke, and a map of Hyrule will pop up, showing the locations of Vaults you have activated. You may teleport to any of these, or press the cancel button to stay where you are. Using the deku nuts in a dungeon or cave will teleport you to the entrance you used to enter this dungeon or cave. You may cary a limited amount of Deku nuts, although this limit may be increased by upgrades through a side quest. Link gets the use of this item by clearing the Vault in Castle Town after the first dungeon.
Location/Building: Blind's Vaults
Scattered all over the overworld. There are several Vaults constructed by the thief Blind ages ago. They are identifiable on the outside by an emblem carved by their entrance, but are otherwise hidden. Inside each is a mini-dungeon. You must find a key in the dungeon, which will open the vault room, located at the dungeon's heart. Inside the Vault are treasure chests containing ruppees, and a switch. Activating the switch will teleport you outside the vault, and the emblem outside will glow blue.
Story
"Long ago there was a mystical band of thieves, led by the most vicious, cutthroat thief of his day: Blind. They robbed every soul they encountered, down to their last ruppee. They seemed unstoppable. In the few instances when they were cornered, they disappeared in a flash of smoke, taking the loot with them. But as fast as their reign of terror began, it ended. No one ever knew who they were or where they came from. But it is said that whoever can discover Blind's vaults, their power as well as the treasure would belong to him."
Another staple on the Zelda series is Link's ability to teleport. In each game since ALttP there is an item (most often a musical instrument) that allows the player to skip large sections of walking to certain areas. The places that the player teleports to are fixed to certain coordinates in the overworld. This ability has two parts. The first part is the item that is used to teleport. The second are the beacons to teleport to.
This is my proposal:
Considering it is a thief's game and make the player disappear without being seen this seems like an interesting bit.
The item: Deku Nuts - They are limited in number, but the player can get more. When used in the overwold it will teleport the player to a beacon of his choosing in a bright flash. In a dungeon it will teleport you to the dungeon entrance and in caves it will teleport you to the door that you entered the room.
The beacon: Mini-dungeon entrances - In most games the beacons are really easy activated and obtained. I think these should be more difficult to get. So why not make it a type of minidungeon with a couple of rooms that you have to complete to activate the beacon. The entrance in the overworld then becomes the teleportation point.
Background story: Long ago there was a mystical band of thieves. They robbed every single sole from their last ruppee. They seemed unstoppable and the few instances they were cornered, they disappeared in a flash and smoke. Taking the loot with them. As fast as their reign of terror began it ended just as fast. No one ever knew who they were and where they came from. But it is said that he who can discover the thieves' vaults of treasure their power would belong to him.
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Niek, I really like the idea of minidungeons!
We'd discussed a teleport item (an instrument) for a while back in the item development stage, but I guess it got completely lost! The method honestly doesn't matter, so Deku Nuts seem a great idea, since they fit with the theme. The only thing I'm wondering about is the limited number, how this will work. Are they just like any ammo-type item, where you find them in bushes or whatever and can only hold a certain amount? If so- then Gale Seeds from OOX would be a good way to look at this.
The only thing with this is that if we make them like gale seeds, then using them to escape dungeons could become a problem. I mean, the whole point of this utility is to allow a player to leave a dungeon at ANY point, to restock health/ammo, or if they get stuck, to get out. However, if the player needs to restock their deku seed ammo in order to get out of the dungeon, it seems backwards? Just something to consider- what does making them limited in number add to the game?
As for the beacon being mini-dungeons, I think this is genius! For one thing, in many Zelda games, mini-dungeons, though fun, just have rupees at the end and I'm always like - "more rupees? I already have a full walllet!" So having a legitimately useful reward for these mini-dungeons would be really exciting! The challenge with finding a new teleport spot is cool too, I was always really excited in twilight princess when those monster dudes showed up because it meant I could teleport here soon.
The only thing to note here is that we have to make sure that these mini-dungeons are marked clearly enough that they aren't too hard to find. Teleport spots need to be kinda by the main path to be useful, so this should make them easy enough to find. What if we graphically mark these mini dungeons? Like, the entrance is always an arch with a certain symbol, like the shiekah eye, in the keystone.
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Well, the limited number means limited number. They can run out if you use them to much without stocking up. That is one thing I like about the Gale seeds in the oracle series. The player has to think things through and make sure they have at least two nuts before going into the dungeon (one for getting out and one for getting to a town). Unlike the Gale seeds though the Deku nuts are only used for teleporting Link, thus running out because of a fight won't be an issue. There is no other weapon that uses Deku Nuts. To stock them up you can probably buy them in a (special) shop.
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Yeah, good point. If they're available under pots in dungeons too, this could help. We'd kind of be babying the player if we structured the game so you couldn't get yourself into a spot of trouble. Well anyway, then, I love your design!
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Thanks, now to see what the rest think of it.
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I think this is a great idea. Going on with your idea of mini-dungeons, if you remember a while back I suggested this:
http://zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=39604.0
Perhaps these could become the mini dungeons?
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In fact that was the inspiration for the mini-dungeons idea. I just didn't want to impose on it, in case you were aiming for something else with the thief hideouts.
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Well, the limited number means limited number. They can run out if you use them to much without stocking up. That is one thing I like about the Gale seeds in the oracle series. The player has to think things through and make sure they have at least two nuts before going into the dungeon (one for getting out and one for getting to a town). Unlike the Gale seeds though the Deku nuts are only used for teleporting Link, thus running out because of a fight won't be an issue. There is no other weapon that uses Deku Nuts. To stock them up you can probably buy them in a (special) shop.
I know this is a bit random, but since the player is limited to a number of deku nuts, the shop owners who sell them can be sold out of deku nuts after one or two purchases of the item, plus since it is a special item, make it limited to a few vendors, for example one guy sells it at night, if their is a day/night cycle.
Also since were talking about deku nuts, let's say we have rare trees that drop a few upon rolling, however, once that's done, you can repeat the rolling into tree process until a big amount of time has past. That can be an alternate source instead of going to a shop, but these trees can be either hidden away and access to one via side quest completion.
This will make the player be more decision-wise when using such an item.
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At the same time, we don't want to limit it TOO much. I think it's just something play testing will prove, although it'll be different for everyone. For instance, I hardly ever teleport out of dungeons, while other players might do so frequently.
How are we going to relate the thief hideouts as warp spots as far as the plot goes? I mean, why these locations, what's the plot-justification behind the gameplay mechanic? Just as safe houses, so they're safe to warp to? Uh, I can't think of any ideas at the moment...
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Long ago there was a mystical band of thieves. They robbed every single sole from their last ruppee. They seemed unstoppable and the few instances they were cornered, they disappeared in a flash and smoke. Taking the loot with them. As fast as their reign of terror began it ended just as fast. No one ever knew who they were and where they came from. But it is said that he who can discover the thieves' vaults of treasure their power would belong to him.
Just a quick idea for a background story. I don't think it necessarily needs to be a part of the main plot.
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Dude, yeah, that sounds awesome! That's exactly what I meant, some kind of story. Yeah, not part of the main plot, but a little legend Link hears about somewhere before the first thief hideout. Brilliant!
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Hey, so do we want to kind of formally accept this idea? I'll try to write it out formally. Also, if I may, can I add a reference to ALTTP?
Thief Hideouts/Deku Nuts
"Long ago there was a mystical band of thieves, led by the most vicious, cutthroat thief of his day: Blind. They robbed every soul they encountered, down to their last ruppee. They seemed unstoppable. In the few instances when they were cornered, they disappeared in a flash of smoke, taking the loot with them. But as fast as their reign of terror began, it ended. No one ever knew who they were or where they came from. But it is said that whoever can discover Blind's vaults, their power as well as the treasure would belong to him."
Blind's Vaults
Scattered all over the overworld
There are several Vaults constructed by the thief Blind ages ago. They are identifiable on the outside by an emblem carved by their entrance, but are otherwise hidden. Inside each is a mini-dungeon. You must find a key in the dungeon, which will open the vault room, located at the dungeon's heart. Inside the Vault are treasure chests containing ruppees, and a switch. Activating the switch will teleport you outside the vault, and the emblem outside will glow blue.
Deku Nuts
Found on certain trees and sold in certain shops
Deku nuts are an item you may assign to one of your item buttons. Using a deku nut on the overworld will cause a flash and a cloud of smoke, and a map of Hyrule will pop up, showing the locations of Vaults you have activated. You may teleport to any of these, or press the cancel button to stay where you are. Using the deku nuts in a dungeon or cave will teleport you to the entrance you used to enter this dungeon or cave. You may cary a limited amount of Deku nuts, although this limit may be increased by upgrades through a side quest.
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Add the function of Deku Nuts inside dungeons and caves as well.
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Righto! I forgot. Seem satisfactory now?
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Fine with me
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Okay, a little bump because this got a bit lost in time. I have updated the OP with a description for Deku Nuts items (mostly Max's description) that is ready to be transfered to the wiki. So I know need to know what the other staff think.
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Well, I approve, obviously since I wrote that down :p
Yeah, I guess you meant more about Steve and Ash... oops D:
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Yup, I meant Steve and Ash.
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Approved.
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Same here as well!
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Sounds like this guy needs to be thrown into the design doc, then?
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Yes, I'll do that now.