A Lost Land

I approve

Had you been working on this before you joined the forums or did you actually make a full-length-non-trivial-virtually-bug-free mod in less than two months? Cause if it's the latter then you are officially my hero; I will worship you like how some forum members worship Kageryushin. If not, I'm still pretty damn impressed that you managed to create such a good mod with such a small amount of time on the forums for feedback and help and such.

I like the way the maxed out spur beam looks different vertically than it does horizontally; I think you should keep it like that.

I can tell that in this mod, you were trying to sort of have all of the elements of Cave Story present. For the most part, they were present, but I didn't really feel like you tied them together to create a cohesive whole very well. This is understandable, considering what you said about how you just wanted to see if you could make a mod and just started sort of patching it together. Though I do believe that if you had a clearer vision in your mind of what you want a mod to become you could make a really, really GREAT mod. This seems to be a theme with modders (myself included); we make one mod just to sort of get used to the process and there are some things that just don't really work out the way we wanted them to, and then we make another one that's way the hell better. Anyways, there are certain things that are quite cool about this mod that I imagine you doing exceptionally well if you decide to make another mod. The main thing is the whole "free exploration" type of feel. Like how you have options as to which items to get, and how all the rooms in the first half of the mod (before the helicopter; it's actually probably a little more than half) are so interconnected and non-linear.

All in all, I quite enjoyed this mod despite the sort of awkward feel of how it was put together.

 

I had to reformat my pc because of malware. Unfortunately I lost my saves in Lost Land at the process, so my review on the full game`ll have to wait. But I can say so far about Lost Land:

-Love the music remixes (remind me of remixes made by my favourite dj. Arn Schluermann)
-The difficulty was good.
-Great plus for mod length.
-Great plus for a bug free release.
-The graphics you added is nice.

Constructive criticism: maybe too many fetch quests.

Keep up the good work!

 

Music remixes??

O_o

Are you sure you're thinking of the right mod?

 

Yeah I'm pretty sure this mod just kept CS's original music Billy. What mod were you playing again?

 

This is hard to beleive even for me.

Wow...I feel stupid...but...but...I played THIS mod! And parts of the song repeated itself and some notes were...different. I play often with Realtek HD Audio Manager Karaoke section but that won`t cause repeats in songs... I don`t think the sound card can make aristic stuff either when it brokes. And malware won`t do anything artistic either. I wasn`t drunk or similar really... And I listen ONLY to classical music, so I can`t say that my hearing is THAT bad. I redownloaded it and now it plays Pixel`s original music. And I swear I played the mod for an hour at least. Paranormal stuff? Strange... And I haven`t play another mod.

EDIT: Now I am replaying it and still state the music was different.

I am really clueless...Carrotlord do you know an answer? I AM TOTALLY CONFUSED. Realtek Karaoke settings are my only logical explanation but it doesn`t make parts of the song repeat themselves...

 

Wow, this is awesome. I hope that you continue to make stuff like this.

 

Looser van Beethoven...

Ok I think I fogot to reset Realtec before playing CS (I think Voice Cancellation, mebbe some other stuff too) Voice Cancellation doesn`t change the music domain much - try it! It sounds cool, similar to a remix.
What a loser I am! But I can secretly adore my OWN music...lol!

 

All the music is the original music, so it's almost certainly Realtec.

Also, @wedge of cheese, I started the mod before coming to the forums, so it wasn't a huge two-month deal.

I'm finding that making significant changes to a finished mod is really hard. For example, to address the fetch quest problem, I would need to rework large portions of the game. Then, it still has to be consistent with the unchanged areas which are already sorta rigid, and the whole mess just goes to blargh...

All things considered, it would be easier to make a second mod from scratch, just like wedge suggested. I am planning to do such a thing, and this time, the story will be completely unrelated to the original CS. Might take a lot of time though...

 

All things considered, it would be easier to make a second mod from scratch, just like wedge suggested. I am planning to do such a thing, and this time, the story will be completely unrelated to the original CS. Might take a lot of time though...

Awesome, I look forward to playing it!

 

What will it be called?

 

The Witching Hour... heh-heh-heh.

 

The Witching Hour... heh-heh-heh.

Doesn't really roll off the tounge...
Take off the "... heh-heh-heh."

XD

 

Hey! I won!
I found a way to beat the Sisters w/o losing health.

Spoiler

Stand in that little alcove on the right, in the middle of the wall. Fire away with the Snake and you will eventually win.

 

Ok, first off, I'm new to these forums and have just been lurking mainly. I beat the game a week ago but my internet's been out for a couple weeks, so that's why this review is coming late. Thanks to your mod, however, I wasn't bored during that time.

Look! Here's a spoiler alert banner that no one cares about and most readers will still keep going!

My review will be based off your original.


The game was very enjoyable. Nothing was set in stone or linear for the first half or more. I felt very free in where I could go or what I could do. At first you start out small, but it soon expands into a great circus maze.
The downside to it though was that it was really easy to get confused at first at where you were. Perhaps maybe a world map or something could have been put somewhere, one for each main area, for you to look at in case you got lost.

The actual gaming experience was well done. Jumping around to different areas was very fun. Also, having the Booster obtainable early in the game made exploring even better.
But, sometimes getting around the place was too easy, and you seemed to just use enemies has your way of blocking off areas.
There was also the glitchy Egg Corridor bit. I ended up getting more health than I was supposed too, since you can get that one where Cthulu's Abode is supposed to be. It took me a while to get to Mushroom Land and beat Ma Pignon, and I soon was out of the place. Since I got the Mushroom Badge and that I was taken to a part to progress the game, I thought it was on purpose. I actually went back after doing it, but there was no way out after. Saving in Mushroom Land makes you have to then reset the game.

The weapons were the usual, but I didn't expect to get any of them in the way I you have us do (except for the Nemesis). I liked how I could have every single weapon from the game at the same time, except for the Nemesis and unlimited Machinegun. I took the Machinegun, but that was only because I already had the Blade.
However, there were few things that went wrong with the weapons. Right at the beginning, you gave us the Fireball, very powerful for just the start of the game. There was only a couple seconds of going weaponless, since you start out with it. I would have liked for their to be a part where you have to go through without weapons, and I even tried to do that by not talking to Curly. I couldn't get past Igor though, so that plan failed.
There were unlimited Blades and Bubblers if you took enough time to keep on getting Jellyfish Juice, go through the Waterways, and through the Labrynith. I ended up with getting just one Bubbler and two Blades levels 1 and 2 though. I don't think it was on purpose though, just a simple glitch that can be fixed.
If anybody were to choose between unlimited Machinegun and the Nemesis, and they already have twenty Blades, then the Machinegun is too good. Even without the Blade glitch, if you have one, the Machinegun is still a pretty good choice. It was especially useful during the Plantation part, on the way to one of the Red Flower stashes.

On difficulty, I'd say the enemies and puzzle factor was just right. The Death Corridor, or you're version of Hell Sacred Ground, was especially hard, but I eventually got through it. I noticed that the Giant Frog was replaced with the Sword-Weilder Frog, which was a nice replacement enemy, seeing as you got rid of some others completely.
Your bosses, on the other hand, were not noob friendly. I've only beaten the normal ending on the orginal before, since Hell used to be hard. Being a Cave Story noob, I died enough times to use the death explosion sound as a way to play one of the Cave Story tracks. All the bosses seemed to be beefed up, even though I had less health on the orginal and still beat the bosses more easily on that one.
The Twin Sisters were incredibly hard, almost even more then Ballos. At least, I died more times fighting the Sisters. First time fighting them, I only had 20HP. I couldn't beat them once they both just kept shooting fire no matter what. I come back later with 50 HP and most of the weapons. The exact same thing happens, and I'm too stubborn to use my Cure-All, not knowing I can get another one.
As one of the bosses, the only boss that seemed to disappoint me was Igor, but seeing how he's weak anyway that doesn't really matter. The most annoying boss would be between Ironhead and Misery. I wanted to get the Alien Medal, so that's what frustrated me the most. misery would teleport over some spikes during the battle, making speed runs annoying. -_-
One thing that confused me was where to find the Red Demon. I wanted the Clay Figure Medal, but I couldn't find him.

Next up is plot. Not much to say, seeing as there wasn't too much for most of it. When there was plot, it was great though. Your endgame plot worked very well, and I found it believeable as a sequal.
For most of the game though, I found no reason for Qoute to keep going, other then the Doctor was still around. Very loose there. But, you did explain some unexplained parts, so you get a plus for that.
The characters were a big let down. They weren't as realistic as I had hoped, and not many people seemed thrilled to see Quote after he just saved them all. The most disappointing was Balrog though. All he was there for was for Missles, and did nothing else.

Finally, I'm going to discuss what I thought overall.
I liked that you went and put out the full release, instead of just demos, even though you're still going to work on what you've done.
I also enjoyed that fact that this game trained me for the sacred Grounds and Ballos. I was never able to beat it before, but now I can, since it's easier to get to Ballos on your mod.
Best of all, it wasn't short at all. It was very long, and very entertaining, and I think you for that.

Overall, this is a great mod, and you obviously put a lot of effort into it.


Wow, that was long.

 

Whoa, wall of text.

1. I tried to make things non-linear on the early parts of the game. Kinda stopped doing that by the second half though.

2. It's possible to get two blades? I thought that if an NPC gave you a weapon or item, and you already had it, it would just be replaced, not repeated. (ex. I have 1 blade and an NPC gives me another one, I still have 1 blade 'cuz my old one was replaced).

The blade/bubbler bug is already fixed, but I'll have to look into the multiple weapons thing. I don't see why 20 blades would be a good idea, seeing as the blade doesn't run out of ammo anyways.

3. The twin dragons are hard because there is no central platform. Now I realize why Pixel had to put that in.

4. You didn't find the red demon because you took the reverse mushroom adventure route (kudos to anyone who gets this reference). If the game was played normally, you would have gone through the final cave from the original CS and fought the red demon.

5. Yes, the plot isn't really intriguing in any way at this point. The new release has some more cutscenes, but that's about it.

6. I liked the fact that you used this to train for the Ballos fight on the original CS. I guess this mod was intended for people who haven't gotten super-good at fighting everything in cavestory after seeing so many mods.

 

Stand in that little alcove on the right, in the middle of the wall. Fire away with the Snake and you will eventually win.

I just stay in the alcove on the left the entire fight. It gives you less room to maneuver and is 10 times more fun for me.

You didn't find the red demon because you took the reverse mushroom adventure route (kudos to anyone who gets this reference).

lol. Thanks again.

 

4. You didn't find the red demon because you took the reverse mushroom adventure route (kudos to anyone who gets this reference). If the game was played normally, you would have gone through the final cave from the original CS and fought the red demon.

Oh hey that means I am near the end after all. Could someone remind me where the guy who trades the "money" is? ...And Malco? >_>

 

Do you know where the Dragon Zombie Lair is? It's the one with four doors, one being the entrance to the place, one leading to the clinic, one leading to the Twin Sisters, one leading to the Dragon Zombie Maze thing, which in turn leads to the room where Itoh and Sue are hiding out. Go through the door there, and head right until you see another door close by. Go in there to find Malco and the Droid who sells stuff.
I think that's how you get there, it's been over a week since I went through that part.

 

Wow, this has got to be the longest mod I've ever played. It's bug free too.

But how do I get to the lower part of sandzone, or is there for the heck of it?

 

Sand zone:

Spoiler

The lower part of Sand Zone is just for nostalgia purposes (if you look at sand zone with the map system). There's no way to get into the lower part in this mod.