Terraria

Terraria

A Link to Terraria
Omegagreen24 3 Jun, 2021 @ 10:49pm
A Review of A Link to Terraria
After completing this map and spending 6.5 hours in it, I have decided that I can give a review of this as a game in itself.

Firstly, I would like to say that the block art is done particularly well in this map. There's a good reason to why this map became a developer's choice. If I was to recommend any improvement, it would be to tone down the use of the graveyard minibiome. It makes it harder to see what's going on in the dungeon. This problem stands out the most in the beginning of the Fire Temple.

On a less positive tone, this map's a Zelda game in name only. It misses a lot of the design choices used in Zelda games. The most obvious is the reusing of main features of dungeons, such as grappling hook gauntlets, switch mazes and teleportation mazes. I understand that Terraria is a limited medium to design dungeons in, but I would recommend researching some new ideas for dungeon designs to keep the same momentum in Zelda games.
Other things that don't fit the Zelda design are the timing of giving the player(s) a new item (new dungeon-traversing mechanics are usually given during the dungeon rather than before/after) the section after the completion of the Water Temple, the "bonus levels" (which while appreciated simply clash with the style of Zelda games except for Breath of the Wild) and the reliance on platforming rather than puzzles/combat. Combat is difficult to design and balance in Terraria maps, so the combat can be given a pass.

Back on the topic of dungeons, my personal favourite was probably the Water Temple. I could see a lot of potential with the water pouring mechanics. Another good dungeon was the airship. It clashes with the style of Zelda, but is still one of the best constucted dungeons. The Earth Temple could have used with some pruning of mechanics as the design felt bloated.

There was an issue where defeating bosses didn't seem to give the right reward. It didn't matter so much as you can still find that backup unlocking mechanism for the Sages' challenges if you're curious enough and the post-Water Temple area can almost be beaten without the required item (which can be bought later) so communicating more clearly about how the end of those dungeons functions would be appreciated.

To conclude, this map has a lot of good ideas and great production value, but could use better consideration for the medium of Terraria when regarding the theme and should diversify the challenges faced in the map. I look forward to any other adventure maps created by this user.
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Showing 1-5 of 5 comments
Loizarus 9 Jun, 2021 @ 9:56pm 
nice review, made me want to get the world :)
Sporty Spice Andi  [developer] 15 Jun, 2021 @ 6:37pm 
Thank you for the well thought out review! It's great! And your comparisons to Zelda as a whole and how this fits in is dead on. :8bitheart:

I would have loved to create every dungeon where the item to proceed is given as a tool for the current dungeon, as is the custom in Link's adventures. But while developing this adventure from version 1.0, it was clear it wasn't possible then. If the item to advance in the overworld is the item that is received in the dungeon, it had to be given in the end, otherwise the player didn't have to finish the dungeon to advance through the overworld. But it did allow me to focus the next dungeon on using the previous dungeon's reward, so earlier versions of this adventure had that feeling of using a new item to help get through a dungeon.

But as Terraria got more complicated with new items and mechanics, they allowed me to create newer dungeons that gave away the reward before the finish or multiple rewards throughout the dungeon to help you progress. This can be seen in Ganondorf's Ship, as the Hookshot is given away right away and is used to help traverse the ship and you finish by getting rewards to help swim and breathe underwater. This whole area was a completely different beast back in the day, called the Glass Maze and people hated it. lol

Anyway. I've always wanted to go back and start fresh, to create a new adventure that closely resembles the spirit of the Zelda franchise but it's such an undertaking. Instead I have started working on updating an older less popular adventure called Escape! When that is ready, I haven't a clue, but it won't be anytime soon. And it's probably not going to be 'Zelda' themed. Probably. We'll see.
I loved the review and the developers reply really makes me want to bush my self to make things the best i can.
superclone53 3 Oct, 2022 @ 1:51pm 
I've played it and honestly, I kinda like it. Some parts kinda suck and the use of lightning feels incredibly forced, especially since I hate the loud noises it makes. And the final fight with Ganondorf feels like a MASSIVE difficulty spike. But other than that, solid map.
Slow9hp 22 Nov, 2022 @ 11:36pm 
good
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