07-18-2011, 04:57 AM
All right, so I'll take a crack at working through some of these key issues, even if it is only included in a future release (maybe). I'll just start at the top of the list and work down.
Cathedral Towers is actually an easy one to start with because it has a forked path neatly splitting the mansion into three sections: left, right, and middle. I generally hate forked path mansions, but this one is OK, since Jack must go down both forks to finish it. Because of the way it is laid out, it means the key/doors puzzles must be self-contained to each side.
Cathedral Towers EASY key/door matchup:
* Keys: 9 blue, 6 green, 7 purple
* Doors: 8 blue, 4 green, 6 purple
So, more keys than doors. On one hand this means that it should be possible to finish it since there are spare keys. On the other, that's kind of sloppy, and carrying around extra keys can inadvertently make a mansion more difficult than it might normally be, because keys take up valuable space, and once picked up, cannot be dropped - just used.
Green keys: (Starting with the biggest disparity). The right side of the mansion is fine - there are two green keys, and two green doors. No problem there. The issue is on the left side, where there are two green doors, and four green keys. The first two keys encountered are the essential ones.
Room 15897 offers a choice, the green door on the right guards another green key inside plus some treasure. It turns out that this is an optional treasure room. If you pick either door, you can finish. Take the one on the right you get a small bonus. Once you are passed this section, there is no easy way to come back, and there are no more green doors ahead, so you could remove green keys in the following rooms without disrupting the mansion: 14892, 15895.
Arguably, you could leave one of these so that it's *always* possible to get everything. This will still leave a key imbalance, though, and frankly I kind of like the choice at 15897 - it's one of those smack your head moments once you've realized the trick.
Purple keys: This time the right side is off: two purple doors, but three purple keys. You have a choice between getting rid of one of two keys on the right side: 14904 or 15300. It's pretty clear to me that the key in room 15300 should go. Getting rid of the other one preserves the layout, and the reason for going down this pathway.
Blue keys: The left half has four doors and five keys. Plus, it has a really useless blue door that I'd recommend taking out, so that means two blue keys to get rid of. Fortunately, it's a pretty easy call to make.
With few exceptions (like room 15897), I think it's generally a bad idea hiding keys behind a door of the same color unless you are really, really careful. In this case, it's not so bad, but only because we have extra keys in the mansion. (this might be why we ended up with a spare blue here). For that reason, I think the key in 14693 has got to go regardless of other change blue changes. Besides, there is at least one other key on this path, so Jack will still need to head this way.
The blue door in 15298 is about worthless. I think it best to leave it with two yellow doors, or better yet, since this is easy (no yellow doors). Even with two yellow doors, the player will only have to open one of them to finish the game because the room above doesn't prevent it. Anyway… let's assume the yellow doors stay and the blue door goes. I'd suggest you lose the blue key in 15296. Why? It's kind of easy to get to.. and I think the key in the room above (15096) is much better placed.
Finally, room 15098. This room tells me that it was originally Normal and downgraded. The two useless gray doors (which should be removed), default to open. The two floor switches open them (again, these should be removed). Because of this, a player would only need one of the yellow doors open in the room below. This is an easy mansion after all, and I think it's fine. I just think the yellow doors are sort of pointless is all.
On to Cathedral Towers Normal...
Cathedral Towers is actually an easy one to start with because it has a forked path neatly splitting the mansion into three sections: left, right, and middle. I generally hate forked path mansions, but this one is OK, since Jack must go down both forks to finish it. Because of the way it is laid out, it means the key/doors puzzles must be self-contained to each side.
Cathedral Towers EASY key/door matchup:
* Keys: 9 blue, 6 green, 7 purple
* Doors: 8 blue, 4 green, 6 purple
So, more keys than doors. On one hand this means that it should be possible to finish it since there are spare keys. On the other, that's kind of sloppy, and carrying around extra keys can inadvertently make a mansion more difficult than it might normally be, because keys take up valuable space, and once picked up, cannot be dropped - just used.
Green keys: (Starting with the biggest disparity). The right side of the mansion is fine - there are two green keys, and two green doors. No problem there. The issue is on the left side, where there are two green doors, and four green keys. The first two keys encountered are the essential ones.
Room 15897 offers a choice, the green door on the right guards another green key inside plus some treasure. It turns out that this is an optional treasure room. If you pick either door, you can finish. Take the one on the right you get a small bonus. Once you are passed this section, there is no easy way to come back, and there are no more green doors ahead, so you could remove green keys in the following rooms without disrupting the mansion: 14892, 15895.
Arguably, you could leave one of these so that it's *always* possible to get everything. This will still leave a key imbalance, though, and frankly I kind of like the choice at 15897 - it's one of those smack your head moments once you've realized the trick.
Purple keys: This time the right side is off: two purple doors, but three purple keys. You have a choice between getting rid of one of two keys on the right side: 14904 or 15300. It's pretty clear to me that the key in room 15300 should go. Getting rid of the other one preserves the layout, and the reason for going down this pathway.
Blue keys: The left half has four doors and five keys. Plus, it has a really useless blue door that I'd recommend taking out, so that means two blue keys to get rid of. Fortunately, it's a pretty easy call to make.
With few exceptions (like room 15897), I think it's generally a bad idea hiding keys behind a door of the same color unless you are really, really careful. In this case, it's not so bad, but only because we have extra keys in the mansion. (this might be why we ended up with a spare blue here). For that reason, I think the key in 14693 has got to go regardless of other change blue changes. Besides, there is at least one other key on this path, so Jack will still need to head this way.
The blue door in 15298 is about worthless. I think it best to leave it with two yellow doors, or better yet, since this is easy (no yellow doors). Even with two yellow doors, the player will only have to open one of them to finish the game because the room above doesn't prevent it. Anyway… let's assume the yellow doors stay and the blue door goes. I'd suggest you lose the blue key in 15296. Why? It's kind of easy to get to.. and I think the key in the room above (15096) is much better placed.
Finally, room 15098. This room tells me that it was originally Normal and downgraded. The two useless gray doors (which should be removed), default to open. The two floor switches open them (again, these should be removed). Because of this, a player would only need one of the yellow doors open in the room below. This is an easy mansion after all, and I think it's fine. I just think the yellow doors are sort of pointless is all.
On to Cathedral Towers Normal...