This map was crazy fun to Let's Play! Great job on creating such an epic map, Heliceo! 
Wooooooo! Finally beat it! (Deaths were 55 btw, and I was playing on Normal)
If anyone wants to watch my glitchy/derpy fight to get the black crystal, here's the vid:
5
Woo I finished! I started the monday two days after release, and finished today, the 26th :). I have a lot to say about the map because I had a great time playing it and think its the best CTM ever created obviously, nothing can compare other than RC2. I played on normal and ended up with 9 deaths, only one digit!
My Review And Thoughts:
Valley of Blood: I really enjoyed the start of this map and the hugeness of the entrance to the valley of blood. The frost traps were extremely helpful throughout the whole in tire map, I didn't go anywhere without one. The lore for this area was probably my favorite because it made me think all my friends have been transformed into monsters and I felt like I was laying siege to my home. I really wish that the lore in the map was slightly more connected other than gathering the crystals, I felt like each area needed more of a connection to each other so you could really understand what happened and how it effected everything differently. I got my first death in this area in less than 10 minutes, I was walking up to the coal mine when I got swarmed by zombies out of the entrance and got "this is sparta'd" off the edge and fell to my death. With such a quick death it kind of bummed me about because I got an attitude that I would be dying a lot in this map, which fortunately didn't turn out to be true in the end. After completing the rest of the area I was not as worried about the drop to the nexus as most people I watched, I calmly walked off then freaked out when the cave spiders spawned. I thought I was MLG dodging all of them at half a heart, but I later learned they don't do damage and I face palmed. I watched other people decide to grind the water bucket which kind of disappointed me that they wouldn't take the fun route, one team even made grinder and made full iron gear before dropping down smh. Overall, very balanced and fun introduction to the map, I felt invested in the story and kind of wish there was more. I did happen to find the secret item when you first spawn because I had loaded up the map immediately after finishing RageCraft 2, so I was still in 1.7.2 and some blocks didn't exist back then so I saw the chest and found it, soon realizing my mistake I made another copy of the map for 1.8.8 and got the item.
Intersection 1: This was a cool intersection with the breeding grounds being below it. I found the trapped villager when I noticed the zombies attracted to the wall. The path leading to the intersection was fun, I would use my boat to travel to each room then conquer it.
Zepharin Sands: I thought this area was kind os easy because of my play style. I just ran through the streets placing torches into the buildings as things spawned, I just ignored the mobs and once I was done torching the roads I went up the water fall, got the emeralds, came back down and the buildings were mostly empty. I had an advantage in the lower lava area because I had crafted a bucket and just watered all the lava, but then I had a little trouble with excessive spawns on the new obsidian. That spawner trap right before the wool tricked me, like most other traps in the map I pretty much fell for every single one since they were so well hidden. The boss fight was really fun and it got me thinking about how crazy the future boss fights must be. I ended up missing one emerald in this area and spent a ton of time looking for it resorting to have to ask for hints on this thread, and I eventually found it after a nice tip. I found the secret item as I think most people should have, its floating up in the air and easy to notice. No deaths, but I came close on the sand falling traps.
Xin's Legacy: I knew i would enjoy this area as I had in RC2. I used the same strategy as just jumping around avoiding the mobs, so I never really got bogged down by combat. The arcane strike and strength buff made the boss fights easy, but I did come close to dying in the boss fight underground because of a single creeper. Xin's gear was extremely useful and I ended up using it all the way into the last sorcerer, but I will explain why I switched out later. I did end up dying in this area simply due to my clumsiness, I was rearranging my loot in my inventory and when I was done I took a step back and fell all the way to the bottom of the area and died. I hadn't even had any mobs around me so it was a stupid death on my part. The boss fights were easy since there were no special abilities and they didn't have much health.
The Breeding Grounds: I don't like fighting in water so I spent most of my time up in the trees throwing traps down and then cleaning up the left over mobs. It was easy hopping around but when there was no where to hop to it got scary and the mobs were strong with my weak ninja armor. The silverfish were annoying in the dungeon as expected, I really really hate silver fish only because of the tiny hit boxes. My favorite part was probably right before the wool, with the dragon eggs everywhere it was pretty. The traps were extremely helpful for clearing mobs and lighting areas out of my reach, I stress using them in that area. No deaths in this area.
The Outpost: I found this area before I found the wool below, so I quickly ran around lighting things up avoiding combat, so when I returned most spawners didn't activate and it was already well lit so I didn't have a hard time. I found the three emeralds quickly then ran by the cave leading to intersection 2 avoiding the spawners because there were quite a lot. The buildings were easy because I would hop to the top then fight my way down with the ninja gear. No deaths, but I was afraid of the punch skeletons knocking me down.
Intersection 2: Each area leading with a rail into darkness was a little scary, but I do wish not all the entrances were so close, it felt a little claustrophobic and made each area not feel like its own being so close to the other entrances.
Little Mines: I at first was confused at the layout of this area but then soon understood it. I knew the lapis would be below and so i would clear the upper areas then head down to finish up the ravine. Once again I used the ninja gear to hop around which made avoiding mobs easy. I did end up dying on the far right of the area due to the special fire mini zombie, I retreated to the mining gods room where he followed me, and he was SO FAST that the knock back on my sword wasn't enough and my spam clicking wasn't fast enough, he ended up killing me because I had no where to hop to. When I came back I killed him in one hit so I was so close to not dying there. The mining gods sacrifice was really cool, whenever I died later on in the map I would go there first and get my permanent haste. The arcane bombs I found to be extremely useful in this area, I would jump around in the trees using them to find and destroy spawners below me. There were a ton of spawners in the final room so I just led all the mobs through my traps then when they were all gone I ran in and got the wool. On my way out the king started to chase me, so I just frost trapped him then spammed him with arrows, the vulnerability my arrows had made most OP mobs in the map easier as they were weaker when I shot them. One death in this area, that dang fire mini zombie was too fast and too furious for me.
The Last Sorcerer: I started off this area worried knowing my trap potions wouldn't work, and even more worried when I realized normal splash potions didn't work either. After slowly working on the tower I was near the bottom when I was in the middle of fighting one of the supercharged creepers, it ended blowing up but at least 6 blocks away from, but it still killed me at full health, so I immediately knew it was time to get better armor because the ninja gear was way to weak for these stronger mobs. I had a fun time building a staircase to lead the pig back to her husband, for some reason she didn't want to jump on half slabs so I had to redo a section and she came close to falling off to her death. I destroyed all the elements so the boss fight would be easier, I don't know why anyone would not destroy them. I killed the boss like I had for Zepharin sands, just jumping around attacking when it was safe to do so. I think he could be buffed so you don't spend so much time jumping around, maybe change the jump boost one level lower. It was nice to find an enchantment table, but I never ended up using it as the enchanted books were way more useful. Fun area, one death to my crappy armor and op supercharged creepers.
Mount Cinis: I felt this area was a huge step up in difficulty from the last sorcerer, mostly because of the mobs taking many hits to kill and doing large amounts of damage. I used my rocket boots to just jump around the volcano, making my way from top to bottom clearing out mobs. I had to be very careful to not get hit because of the damage, but it wasn't that hard with the rocket boots. I was very sad when they ended up being unrepairable later in the map, but fortunately soon after I found the jump boost diamonds boots :). The actual Mount Cinis was very intimidating and I was relieved to see no mobs in the volcano because I knew with the armor I had my damage take would be even larger. I am curious to know how using a fire resistance potion would not work, maybe theres a command block constantly applying fire resistance 2 which would make the normal fire resistance not work, I'm not sure. I was very careful in the explosive basement, built a tunnel in the first room through the wall to avoid the charged creepers, and in the second room I had a blaze shoot a fire ball at me but end up missing and hitting tnt, which blew up what ever loot was in there. The third room with the emerald did not get blown up as I was even more careful knowing an emerald was at stake. I wish the path to intersection three had a name though, I enjoyed the lore from past paths to intersections. No deaths in this area, but the zombie pigmen with diamond swords really hurt.
Intersection 3: It was fun to explore all the buildings and learn of my new quests, I ended up forgetting about the sun shrine and never used it. After finding all three items for Dalron I chose the health boost, I'm to lazy to make potions. If you were to go through this map trying to get as little deaths as possible, and grind a ton, the potions is the better choice. I would run in circles to find the next area since there were no signs in the center pointing to where they were. Very cool intersection though, I like how all the intersections were also bases so you didn't have to build your own.
Phantom Ruins: I liked the mechanic in hitting the phantoms with potions, it was difficult to make sure you didn't also get hit by them so I often had a few seconds of the rebuff when ever I threw them. It was a little easy jumping around in my rocket boots avoiding enemies and just lighting things up. When I found the diamond chest plate I immediately retreated and put good enchants on it, one mistake I made in RC2 was always saving my good items and never actually using them. I was a little confused when I flipped the switch and it said something moved underground, I didn't know where to look and then after a couple confused minutes I remembered about the water area below. Once finding the wool and all the mobs spawning above me, I just quickly jumped out with my rocket boots, those things are super awesome. The aesthetics where really good as it made the area feel spooky. No deaths in this area, but it's was certainly frightening as usual to swim out of the water and find dozens of mobs already attacking you when you have no bearings.
Summoners Lair: This area was a little difficult with the summoners, I had trouble hitting them with all the little zombies and other mobs in my face, the guards where very tough and hard to kill. I did die in this area because I had a creeper blow up behind me that I hadn't seen, bringing me from full health all the way down to two hearts, and also breaking my pants, so when the next creeper ran up while I was still in shock I blew up and died. A common theme with my deaths in this map where due to my armor breaking right a terrible moment. When dealing with the side areas for the quest, I would just run in and run out as fast as I could, because there were seriously a ton of spawners and mobs that I didn't want to deal with. Once I had all the keys I ran to the wool as fast as I could and ran out as fast as I could. I did have some suspicion of a trap so I was ready for that last key trick. One death in this area, the creepers were really strong and fast so I should have brought blast protection.
CinderBlood Temple: This was not a difficult area, but it did end up killing me twice, the most out of an area in the map. Both times I died I hadn't even realized my health was so low, it wasn't the mobs hitting me that killed me, it was the splash damage potions they dropped that killed me. I would be at full health then suddenly I was at 2 hearts because of one potion landing right at my feet. I remember one death message telling me "player was killed by potion using magic". For the area right before the wool I would once again run in and run out activating as many spawners as I could so once all the mobs where dead I wouldn't have to deal with too many when I pushed forward again. Luckily I had used a potion of fire resistance so when that cheeky hole in the stairs caused me to fall, I didn't die and just ender pearled back up. I tried to avoid hitting the pigmen and just use traps to kill them, but that was too slow and when they broke through I had to hit them. The strength buff made the normal pigmen one shots, so it wasn't too big of a deal. So, two deaths simply because of the damage potions they drop that I hadn't been paying attention to.
Winter's End: I enjoyed climbing the hill to the castle, I luckily never got shot back down by the punch skeletons. I started this area off with my rocket boots, but after entering the castle they broke, and I didn't have any replacements so I was much weaker without that protection. I had cleared everything except the path to the boss fight, and the castle. Once getting in the castle from the bottom, I was a little confused by the signs saying only death was under the ice, then I realized it was talking about what I had just conquered and I had fortunately never fallen down through the ice. Once going up into the castle, I got swarmed by all the mobs that had spawned while I tried to figure out the signs, and with my boots gone it was too much and after every mob I killed there were two to replace it, so my health slowly fell as more and more fast zombies approached and with nothing to do I died with a bunch of zombie jumping around my grave. I don't remember where I got the armor that gave you plus 7 percent speed per item, but I used that set whenever I died so I could get back to my items quickly, they were very helpful. With better gear, I conquered the castle then did my usual torch run through the path to the boss, destroying the spawners once all the mobs were dead. Then, I found the new diamond jump boost boots and I was very happy because I missed my rocket boots. The Bossfight was easy jumping up to hit Yaaros, but I did have a charged creeper hit me once or twice that made me have to back off attacking and reuse the boost stations. So, one death in this area due to the death of my rocket boots and the super fast zombies swarming me.
Last Bastion: The path leading here was a little challenging, and at one point after dropping down to a lower section I was immediately shot by a punch skeleton down the next fall which threw me off guard. I just made simple progress eventually finding the last bastion and being relieved and scared to have found intersection 4. It was a nice looking intersection, and I was very happy to see that I could upgrade my ninja gear. I did have a couple random mobs spawn here and there, but it was no big deal.
Helician Labs: I didn't know what to expect from this area at first, a lot of CTM's that I have played make the brown wool a joke, but I soon realized this area would be an actual challenge. I was confused for a little about why when I hit the zombies with beacon heads that sometimes the hits didn't register, but then I figured that I had to hit them in the legs. After playing through, I made my way to the top of the elevator first, so when I found the teleported I figured that it was leading to the wool so I went back down to complete the lower parts. I had a fun time playing through and the rocket launcher was a super cool and helpful weapon that I used until its disappearance ( i'll get to that later). I ran out of torches at the bottom floor and I didn't feel like retreating to get more, so I used the arcane bombs to make temporary lighting while I got the loot. I actually ignored the Crystal box at first because I saw there was more to go, so when I found the brown Crystal in the chest in the aquarium I was a little confused. I then checked the first Crystal box and read the book so I wasn't confused any more :P. No deaths, but those charged creepers sure hurt!
Reeking river: As I think while I write this, I completely forgot to complete the section with the beds and find whatever loot was in there, and now that I have gone back to check it I really wish I hadn't missed it. (I'll explain why later). I kept to the edges of the first area and voided the water as much as I could, slowly making progressive and getting the loot. When I read the book and how I had to use to cures or I would die, I was very nervous. I only ended getting hit by those dudes twice, and I was luckily ever in a bad situation when it happened so I quickly drank the cures and took deep breathes. I really liked this castle, it was huge and scary to look at and fun inside. The boss fight wasn't that hard, but it soon got very hard when my armor started to break, that laser attack thing really damages armor! I ended the fight with only a chest plate and boots left, so any more breakage and I would have probably died. Really fun boss fight though! No deaths, but the armor breaking was a close call.
Fort Vhisarion: I enjoyed going up the hill with my jump boost boots, those villager zombies sure do a lot of damage and knock back though. This area did so much damage to my armor that I ended up retreating and coming back with an anvil and a bunch of diamonds so I could rep are on the go. I had fun going through the area and breaking spawners, It was really funny to aim slightly above the packs of mobs with my rocket launcher and then watch as I released my arrow and had all the mobs blow up then fall to their deaths. I didn't have infinity on my bow so when I went into the boss fight and saw just how hard it was to hit the dragon, I got really worried that I would run out of arrows. The boss fight wasn't actually very life threatening, The only issue was really hitting the dragon. Getting hit by mobs while I was looking up and aiming was a bit annoying, and I ended up having my helmet brake on me. I ended up killing Vhisarion with only 30 arrows left when I had started with 3 stacks, so I'm relieved I didn't run out. At this point in the map I only need one more emerald to complete the monument, I think I missed one somewhere in one of the intersection 4 areas but it wasn't a big deal, I knew I would quickly get one in the Exile and just retreat so get my reward. No deaths in this area, my armor was op :).
The Exile: This area was very lag intensive, so I ended up having to allocate more memory to minecraft so I could actually play it. I was very afraid of the pillar of particles following me around, so whenever I would turn a corner and see it right in front of me I would scream a little. After finding my first emerald I went back to make the last emerald block and get my reward, and I was extremely happy with it. Helmets always break first in mine craft and to see that this amazing helmet was unbreakable was a dream come true, especially the ,7 knock back resistance. I only got hit by the particle pillar once when I had nearly finished the area, so I was glad to see it didn't kill you instantly which I thought it would before I had been hit. I thought there were six shrines to destroy, so when I found the seventh I was very relieved because I had actually almost pillared up to the Crystal thinking it was safe when it turns out I wasn't ready. The two shrines at the back of the area were a little difficult but not two hard to manage, I did have slight lag but nothing to crazy. When I grabbed the Crystal and got teleported, I knew I had a big boss fight ahead of me. I used my best armor to kill the first wither form, and I used two god apples once he was at less than half health so I could spam him with my sword and not worry about my health. Then getting teleported to another boss fight made me worried because the first fight had been hard, I could't imagine how much harder this one would be. When it told me to bring blocks because of void, It made me really worried about getting knocked into void so I switched out my diamond pants for a pair of the Winters end iron pants for the .3 knock back resistance, so that paired with my helmet would make me immune to knock back. For some reason I was unable to put protection 4 on those pants, but I was not going to give them up so I went into the fight with weaker pants than I could have. This is why I wish I had the Chest plate I missed from the reeking river, it had .5 knock back resistance so if I had gotten that I would never of had to use the Winters End pants. I brought one god apple with me but that quickly became useless with his curse debuff. Around getting him to half health my pants broke, and I started to take some knock back and I had a couple close falls with falling into the void. after getting him below 20 percent health, my Godskin chest plate broke and that was it. I immediately got rekt and died. The boss fights in this map are extremely intensive on your armor, so I wish I had brought some replacement because once they broke I was skrewed. I knew it would be a difficult fight so I had lots of good armor ready for use if I died. I returned with the kryoblade for damage and knock back resistance, I didn't mind the slowness because I knew he was close to death. Luckily his health didn't reset when I died, that would have been awful XD. When I returned I found my helmet and put that on very happily, however my rocket launcher was gone, but that wasn't a big deal since the boss was immune to bows. It didn't take long to finish him off, he had nearly no health left when I first died so I quickly killed him then started placing blocks every where afraid of falling into the void with my black crystal. Very fun and difficult boss fight, a good way to end the map. One death unfortunately to armor destruction.
FINAL REVIEW: So I finished the map in normal mode with 9 deaths and one emerald missing, probably in an area I saw but completely forgot about. Like I said before I wish the lore was more connected, when I got the text telling me the darkness had been lifted I was like "oh yeah, thats why I was getting crystals." It was very balanced and very cool, you deserve more recognition for this map because it was nothing like any other CTM I have played. You managed to make boss fights actually boss fights, not just a zombie with a ton of health in some other CTMs I have played. It was very fun, and I am looking forward to watching others have fun playing this map. I can't imagine the message at the end telling me an even stronger power was watching me means you are working on RC4, this map was so cool and huge you must have spent a lot of time and hard work on it, and you did a really good job. I would say my favorite area was the Valley of Blood because it was such a cool introduction to the map and story. Thanks for making this really fun map!