[Puz] Murder on the Zurich Express, by Fellonius Wizard
No forum post, so I'm not sure how long he'll keep this download link available after I post this: http://www.mediafire...i67xgpggxd2242l
Total Rating: 14/20
Creativity - 3. This really feels like detective work, piecing together clues from telegrams, custom books, vendor trades, and command block NPC text.
Detail - 3. The visuals are constrained to tight train corridors, but you can see attention to detail in every room.
Experience - 3. It really does feel like you're a detective trying to piece together clues. Maybe I should have taken notes!
Challenge - 3
Progression - 2. Here is where I will round down due to a lot of running back and forth, trying to find the right villagers.
I sure hope he keeps it around, it was brilliant! I just happen to love murder mysteries.
I just finished setting up my CTM Compilation Map thread. Which I was inspired to do because of rsmalec toybox map and pantheon. If you're interested this is the thread.
A diverse collection of common physical and mental puzzles wrapped in a nice story. The build is very good, visually. A few glitches (in this version) that can be easily fixed by the authors and did not impede game play. My biggest complaint is the vanilla ender dragon battle.
Fellonius the Wizard and I played this map as part of our "Hidden Gems" review series 2.
We played 13 maps from the Minecraft forums, published between January 1 and January 7, 2013, with few views/replies.
After playing all 13 maps, we force-rank them against each other into 8 tiers from "gravel" to "emerald", hoping to find some hidden gems!
Crash Landing is the second of thirteen maps played in alphabetical order:
Series Intro:
My standard rating will be published after the series is complete.
I just finished setting up my CTM Compilation Map thread. Which I was inspired to do because of rsmalec toybox map and pantheon. If you're interested this is the thread.
Best of luck!!
I have some ideas, but no motivation to physically build anything.
Unique boss battles.
Great visuals.
RE: Challenge - trash mobs can be killed at range, most bosses can be glitched or are just too hard (but keepInventory and persistence eventually pay off).
I really enjoyed the sequence of the story and multiple zones - Hypixel took the best of Herobrine's Mansion and improved on it!
Unique boss battles.
Great visuals.
RE: Challenge - trash mobs can be killed at range, most bosses can be glitched or are just too hard (but keepInventory and persistence eventually pay off).
I really enjoyed the sequence of the story and multiple zones - Hypixel took the best of Herobrine's Mansion and improved on it!
It must be better, since it doesn't have Herobrine in it.
In case anyone is wondering or cares, here's a breakdown of my maps 'in progress';
These are finished, just pending video and rating uploads:
[Adv] Respawn: The Unseen Journey
Hidden Gems Series 2 (13 maps reviewed with Fellonius) Video
These are in-progress but are being played multiplayer, so scheduling may mean they take a while to complete:
[CtM] Wool World
[CtM] Vinyl Fantasy II
Flint and Steel missions with dadsRfunny (tba)
These are the primary 'in progress' maps solo that I'll play and film:
[CtM] From Ashes
[Adv] The Quest of Merravid
This is the map I'm playing solo when I can't film:
[CtM] Inkstar
Past experience tells me to wait, but my gut says it won't be a complete disaster (redstone changes).
We have currently only built 2 villages and the first of 4 dungeons in the map. Not much in terms of what we had planned, wish I could say we were doing more. InHaven seems to have taken our full control at the moment, as we not have a city with over 70 citizens. But at least we are getting building designs from the city's citizens (after request, of course) so the houses in the map should be better now. Considering I'm the stay at home mom and my husband works, I think we'll have enough time to work on the map once the redstone update comes, and we learn how to use all the new stuff. Maybe even get the map out this year! ;P
Fellonius the Wizard and I played this map as part of our "Hidden Gems" review series 2.
We played 13 maps from the Minecraft forums, published between January 1 and January 7, 2013, with few views/replies.
After playing all 13 maps, we force-rank them against each other into 8 tiers from "gravel" to "emerald", hoping to find some hidden gems!
Clever concept. Great puzzles. Mild mob fights. Some parkour. Dynamic NPC dialogue. I'm almost certain the redstone in the pump room (between the minecarts and the sanctuary of dreams) was breakable, and the library sanctuary got stuck. Overall, it's a great collection of puzzles but the overarching story seems thin and could use reinforcing during down times between puzzles.
If you love exploring extensive landscapes and MASSIVE, BEAUTIFUL structures, and are intrigued by the quest for 12 eggs - I highly recommend this map.
Total Rating: 16
Creativity - 3
Detail - 4 (this sets a new high bar for all other CtMs)
Experience - 3
Challenge - 3
Progression - 3 (I feel like this may be a generous 3, but the world IS massive)
Full disclosure: I played what I feel to be a significant portion, until I had full set of diamond armor and tools with level 5 to 10 enchants, array of potions, and unlimited food. After 5 eggs, and no deaths I opted to fast forward to the monument in creative mode, and then spent several hours exploring the remaining egg sites to see if there were any significant mechanisms or areas designed for difficult combat.
If I didn't have a long list of other maps to review, I probably would have kept playing longer, and this one will be on my list to come back and continue play whenever I am feeling in the mood for basic survival.
I estimate this would take a 40 to 100 hours to fully complete.
Summary
GORGEOUS builds. ENORMOUS world. Those two features are clearly the highlight.
Unfortunately, you can gear up super fast and then it's about as easy as vanilla Minecraft, assuming you bring fire and regen potions to certain dungeons. All of the dungeons are housed in gargantuan, well-detailed structures, but often the challenging play area is pretty small (with some exceptions).
Lore starts off strong, but seems to taper out by the middle. A bit too much 'out of character' humor for my taste, but I don't count that against a rating. All of the named items I found have humorous flavor text and the map does seem to be geared for multiplayer.
Really good transportation system, with clever lockout, except that I wish it were enabled a lot earlier than Wizard's Point. In my opinion, there would be no real spoiler/issue of getting to the monument early - the chests there have low level gear and areas you haven't seen are locked out - so why not let us come store our eggs here or make this our central base? 12 eggs is a nice, unique goal, but the end is even more anti-climactic than a sandstone monument (in terms of function). I would definitely add a lore book and signs where the eggs are supposed to go.
Some of the locations do have redstone mechanisms for revealing stairs/halls/etc... but they seem to be more cosmetic than actually necessary or bonus gear puzzles.
Did I already say it's a huge map? HUGE! But that does mean a lot of vanilla terrain in between. The map makers try to fill it with custom spawners (mobs of roving bandits) but they are super easy to avoid and once you outgear them, it's kinda useless. Net net there is a lot of downtime and inventory management between encounters - but that's a symptom of massive open-world maps, and not unique to this design.
This is a lovingly built adaptation of a text-based adventure by Martech. It captures the feel of the original game, while offering a nice variety of simple Minecraft search and logic puzzles. I would have liked a few more torches
Also, these maps need to be put into the 2013 section:
I started playing those in 2012 when I was maintaining that list based on the map's publish date, to close out 2012. Before I made the 2013 list. That's the date I posted the review. It's not a perfect science.
I Just thought I'd pop in over here and thank you again for taking the time to play and review the map for me. Your play-through notes are really detailed and beyond helpful.
This was my first attempt at a map, and the experience has got me hooked. I've definitely caught the map making bug.
I would love to get your input earlier in the build process, to examine potential pitfalls and design goofs. (I'm more of a frustrated architect than evil player crushing genius, so I do tend to try and keep people alive to see the spectacle lol.)
Thank you again for your time and your generosity.
It was my pleasure. I really do feel guilty it took me so long to get to it, and that I did't film it (my channel is already at 3 videos per day through mid February), and that I fast forwarded about halfway through.
I appreciate the non-player-crushing-mentality. To me, a map maker is building a story (even if there's no story) that the player should experience to the end. If you kill the player unrecoverably (is that a word?) halfway through, then the player is missing out and so is the map maker.
My Minecraft Maps: coldfusionmaps.com
My Minecraft Maps: coldfusionmaps.com
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1511065-atlantis
Total Rating: 14
Creativity - 2
Detail - 3
Experience - 3
Challenge - 3
Progression - 3
A diverse collection of common physical and mental puzzles wrapped in a nice story. The build is very good, visually. A few glitches (in this version) that can be easily fixed by the authors and did not impede game play. My biggest complaint is the vanilla ender dragon battle.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1632712-crashlanding
Fellonius the Wizard and I played this map as part of our "Hidden Gems" review series 2.
We played 13 maps from the Minecraft forums, published between January 1 and January 7, 2013, with few views/replies.
After playing all 13 maps, we force-rank them against each other into 8 tiers from "gravel" to "emerald", hoping to find some hidden gems!
Crash Landing is the second of thirteen maps played in alphabetical order:
Series Intro:
My standard rating will be published after the series is complete.
Best of luck!!
I have some ideas, but no motivation to physically build anything.
http://www.hypixel.net/threads/wrath-of-the-fallen-minecraft-adventure-map.488/
Total Rating: 19
Creativity - 4
Detail - 4
Experience - 4
Challenge - 3
Progression - 4
Unique boss battles.
Great visuals.
RE: Challenge - trash mobs can be killed at range, most bosses can be glitched or are just too hard (but keepInventory and persistence eventually pay off).
I really enjoyed the sequence of the story and multiple zones - Hypixel took the best of Herobrine's Mansion and improved on it!
My Minecraft Maps: coldfusionmaps.com
These are finished, just pending video and rating uploads:
[Adv] Respawn: The Unseen Journey
Hidden Gems Series 2 (13 maps reviewed with Fellonius) Video
These are in-progress but are being played multiplayer, so scheduling may mean they take a while to complete:
[CtM] Wool World
[CtM] Vinyl Fantasy II
Flint and Steel missions with dadsRfunny (tba)
These are the primary 'in progress' maps solo that I'll play and film:
[CtM] From Ashes
[Adv] The Quest of Merravid
This is the map I'm playing solo when I can't film:
[CtM] Inkstar
We have currently only built 2 villages and the first of 4 dungeons in the map. Not much in terms of what we had planned, wish I could say we were doing more. InHaven seems to have taken our full control at the moment, as we not have a city with over 70 citizens. But at least we are getting building designs from the city's citizens (after request, of course) so the houses in the map should be better now. Considering I'm the stay at home mom and my husband works, I think we'll have enough time to work on the map once the redstone update comes, and we learn how to use all the new stuff. Maybe even get the map out this year! ;P
What to meet us in person? Well come and check out the server we play on called Archaven!
Map 3 is "Dahlia's Freedom" by Jordip
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1637220-dahlia
=================================
[Adv] Respawn: The Unseen Journey, by Tshara
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1654509-respawn
Clever concept. Great puzzles. Mild mob fights. Some parkour. Dynamic NPC dialogue. I'm almost certain the redstone in the pump room (between the minecarts and the sanctuary of dreams) was breakable, and the library sanctuary got stuck. Overall, it's a great collection of puzzles but the overarching story seems thin and could use reinforcing during down times between puzzles.
Total Rating: 17
Creativity - 4
Detail - 4
Experience - 2
Challenge - 4
Progression - 3
Added to my queue.
My Minecraft Maps: coldfusionmaps.com
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1570269-inkstar
If you love exploring extensive landscapes and MASSIVE, BEAUTIFUL structures, and are intrigued by the quest for 12 eggs - I highly recommend this map.
Total Rating: 16
Creativity - 3
Detail - 4 (this sets a new high bar for all other CtMs)
Experience - 3
Challenge - 3
Progression - 3 (I feel like this may be a generous 3, but the world IS massive)
Full disclosure: I played what I feel to be a significant portion, until I had full set of diamond armor and tools with level 5 to 10 enchants, array of potions, and unlimited food. After 5 eggs, and no deaths I opted to fast forward to the monument in creative mode, and then spent several hours exploring the remaining egg sites to see if there were any significant mechanisms or areas designed for difficult combat.
If I didn't have a long list of other maps to review, I probably would have kept playing longer, and this one will be on my list to come back and continue play whenever I am feeling in the mood for basic survival.
I estimate this would take a 40 to 100 hours to fully complete.
Summary
GORGEOUS builds. ENORMOUS world. Those two features are clearly the highlight.
Unfortunately, you can gear up super fast and then it's about as easy as vanilla Minecraft, assuming you bring fire and regen potions to certain dungeons. All of the dungeons are housed in gargantuan, well-detailed structures, but often the challenging play area is pretty small (with some exceptions).
Lore starts off strong, but seems to taper out by the middle. A bit too much 'out of character' humor for my taste, but I don't count that against a rating. All of the named items I found have humorous flavor text and the map does seem to be geared for multiplayer.
Really good transportation system, with clever lockout, except that I wish it were enabled a lot earlier than Wizard's Point. In my opinion, there would be no real spoiler/issue of getting to the monument early - the chests there have low level gear and areas you haven't seen are locked out - so why not let us come store our eggs here or make this our central base? 12 eggs is a nice, unique goal, but the end is even more anti-climactic than a sandstone monument (in terms of function). I would definitely add a lore book and signs where the eggs are supposed to go.
Some of the locations do have redstone mechanisms for revealing stairs/halls/etc... but they seem to be more cosmetic than actually necessary or bonus gear puzzles.
Did I already say it's a huge map? HUGE! But that does mean a lot of vanilla terrain in between. The map makers try to fill it with custom spawners (mobs of roving bandits) but they are super easy to avoid and once you outgear them, it's kinda useless. Net net there is a lot of downtime and inventory management between encounters - but that's a symptom of massive open-world maps, and not unique to this design.
http://fellonius.webs.com/customs.htm
This is a lovingly built adaptation of a text-based adventure by Martech. It captures the feel of the original game, while offering a nice variety of simple Minecraft search and logic puzzles. I would have liked a few more torches
Total Rating: 15
Creativity - 3
Detail - 2
Experience - 3
Challenge - 3
Progression - 4
This link is incorrect, it was stolen. The real link is here and it is really by PitchBlackPL.
Also, these maps need to be put into the 2013 section:
One more thing, could you categorize the 2013 maps so we know whether it's Adventure, Parkour, etc.
Oh? Thank you!
I started playing those in 2012 when I was maintaining that list based on the map's publish date, to close out 2012. Before I made the 2013 list. That's the date I posted the review. It's not a perfect science.
They're labeled as such, but there aren't enough to break them up yet. Would be too much white space.
I'm actually tempted to just combine the lists but I still want the newer maps graded against 'modern' expectations.
I was wrong in my last reply. I wasn't listing the type. Fixed.
It was my pleasure. I really do feel guilty it took me so long to get to it, and that I did't film it (my channel is already at 3 videos per day through mid February), and that I fast forwarded about halfway through.
I appreciate the non-player-crushing-mentality. To me, a map maker is building a story (even if there's no story) that the player should experience to the end. If you kill the player unrecoverably (is that a word?) halfway through, then the player is missing out and so is the map maker.