07-21-2011, 12:57 PM
Falcon Manor EASY:
* keys: 12 red, 8 blue, 5 purple, 10 yellow
* doors: 16 red, 11 blue, 4 purple, 11 yellow
As in other mansions, usually made easier by reducing the
Purple keys:
The problem with the purple keys is that they are integrated into the ends of each fork. One behind a blue door - 19495) and one behind a red door - 19497. The idea here is that Jack will only ever be able to get one of the two. Though the player has no way of knowing this. There is one purple door below with a limited amount of bonus treasure. I really think the purple keys are redundant here. If you're only going to allow the player to get one or the other, then put an equal amount of the treasure directly behind the red and blue doors, and forego the purple keys and door below altogether. This gives you more room to play with the yellow doors.
Update: Vern - take a look at Falcon Manor Normal at what I did with the Purple and Yellow doors in room 20096 I think that approach works just as well for Easy. It's a better solution than the first thing I recommended.
Yellow keys:
The yellow key mismatch basically boils down to two rooms near the very end: 20096 and 20296. Between these two rooms, there are three doors, but there are two yellow keys in the section. The deal is you only need one of the yellow keys in room 20096, and if you use both, no bonus treasure room for you! I don't mind that sort of think in Normal and Hard mansions, but I think it's kind of a crappy trick for Easy. I think a better approach would be to lose or open the bonus treasure room to the left of the exit. Assuming that there isn't a purple down here anymore, put a yellow and green door in both corners, and lose one green key and door. Block the pole with two gray doors, and put a lever behind each yellow/green pair - each one opening one of the gray doors.
That should address yellow and purple mismatches…
Red and Blue keys: I'm not really happy with the situation with red/blue keys. In the remaining sections (from save point 2 (18695) until the forks come back together in room 19496, there are 3 red keys/6 red doors, and 3 blue keys/6 blue doors. You start this section with a rainbow key, so this will drop your door count by one for either red or blue depending on the direction you pick. This means your still short by two keys, so when you get to rooms: 19295 (red), 19297 (blue), 19497 (red), 19495 (blue), you are left wondering
So what can be done here without completely risking widespread changes for the section? Here is the compromise I would take: I would put a key on each of the poles starting at 18890/19290 and 18901/19301 (I'd probably put them on the end or middle of each pole). A red key on the right pole, and blue key on the left one. Then I'd add a red key behind the red door in 19295, and a blue key behind the blue door in 19297. This would reward the player for not simply using the blue or red key at the first door they came to from either side, and scouting out the situation first. These doors are not that far apart. The treasure output in either the blue or red doors should be identical. The idea here would be to make it easily possible for a player to get the contents of two of the four doors, but not necessarily giving it away.
Note that this will not completely fix the mismatch - the easiest way to do that would be to remove the rainbow key and blue and red doors in room 18695 and and 18895, though that may have impacts that I haven't fully explored. Even without this change, I believe the other changes will help minimize the annoyance factor without significantly changing how this mansion plays.
* keys: 12 red, 8 blue, 5 purple, 10 yellow
* doors: 16 red, 11 blue, 4 purple, 11 yellow
As in other mansions, usually made easier by reducing the
problem areasto the smallest size possible and focusing on them. The top (green) section is fine - no key/door mismatches. The bottom section is mostly fine, and it clearly shows some of the easier mismatches to fix if desired. The ones for the yellow and purple keys, so I'll focus on those first.
Purple keys:
The problem with the purple keys is that they are integrated into the ends of each fork. One behind a blue door - 19495) and one behind a red door - 19497. The idea here is that Jack will only ever be able to get one of the two. Though the player has no way of knowing this. There is one purple door below with a limited amount of bonus treasure. I really think the purple keys are redundant here. If you're only going to allow the player to get one or the other, then put an equal amount of the treasure directly behind the red and blue doors, and forego the purple keys and door below altogether. This gives you more room to play with the yellow doors.
Update: Vern - take a look at Falcon Manor Normal at what I did with the Purple and Yellow doors in room 20096 I think that approach works just as well for Easy. It's a better solution than the first thing I recommended.
Yellow keys:
The yellow key mismatch basically boils down to two rooms near the very end: 20096 and 20296. Between these two rooms, there are three doors, but there are two yellow keys in the section. The deal is you only need one of the yellow keys in room 20096, and if you use both, no bonus treasure room for you! I don't mind that sort of think in Normal and Hard mansions, but I think it's kind of a crappy trick for Easy. I think a better approach would be to lose or open the bonus treasure room to the left of the exit. Assuming that there isn't a purple down here anymore, put a yellow and green door in both corners, and lose one green key and door. Block the pole with two gray doors, and put a lever behind each yellow/green pair - each one opening one of the gray doors.
That should address yellow and purple mismatches…
Red and Blue keys: I'm not really happy with the situation with red/blue keys. In the remaining sections (from save point 2 (18695) until the forks come back together in room 19496, there are 3 red keys/6 red doors, and 3 blue keys/6 blue doors. You start this section with a rainbow key, so this will drop your door count by one for either red or blue depending on the direction you pick. This means your still short by two keys, so when you get to rooms: 19295 (red), 19297 (blue), 19497 (red), 19495 (blue), you are left wondering
what did I miss?The answer is nothing. I'm not certain how one could ever get all the blue doors, however it *is* possible to get all the red (in either this section *or* the previous one), but in order to do that you have to pass up the treasure room blocked by the two red doors in room 18495 from the previous section.
So what can be done here without completely risking widespread changes for the section? Here is the compromise I would take: I would put a key on each of the poles starting at 18890/19290 and 18901/19301 (I'd probably put them on the end or middle of each pole). A red key on the right pole, and blue key on the left one. Then I'd add a red key behind the red door in 19295, and a blue key behind the blue door in 19297. This would reward the player for not simply using the blue or red key at the first door they came to from either side, and scouting out the situation first. These doors are not that far apart. The treasure output in either the blue or red doors should be identical. The idea here would be to make it easily possible for a player to get the contents of two of the four doors, but not necessarily giving it away.
Note that this will not completely fix the mismatch - the easiest way to do that would be to remove the rainbow key and blue and red doors in room 18695 and and 18895, though that may have impacts that I haven't fully explored. Even without this change, I believe the other changes will help minimize the annoyance factor without significantly changing how this mansion plays.