Expedition Foundation (25th place in contest 7)

[Kley]

I know, 25th isn't the greatest, but it's still a cool level! Very story based!
Basically, Mario is accompanying a crew to explore a new island with a sacred treasure, but maybe they discover more than they thought!
You get the just of it
Keep in mind that the level is more story-based and more for experience compared to actual gameplay.

I highly suggest disabling frameskip.

Change log since contest submission:
-Added 6 dragon coins to the level.
-Fixed a hole in the level
-Tiny change in dialogue for a few NPCs

Screenshots

Spoiler: show

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Download: https://www.mediafire.com/?dk43bi14bs2c9jr

[HeroLinik]

Review from contest:

Expedition Foundation - 7/10
This level was really interesting. It's one of those levels that makes you go in all sorts of directions, doing a lot of exploring, in order to unlock some secrets. As a result, this level's gameplay is nonlinear, and I like the transition from a ship journey to a small overworld fragment, and then finally a cave where most of the action takes place. I also liked the idea of having to talk to certain NPCs in order to progress the level's plot as it gives the impression that the ship is moving, even if it really isn't. The amount of exploring that the player has to do in the cave section is really immense that it can keep the player on the edge of their seats, seeking out the best way forward, but the problem is that it has the wrong ideas. It wasn't nonlinear as such but a giant maze, so it's easy to get lost. Also the gameplay was really bland and there were little special gimmicks to keep the player interested and it was just following a path, although the chasing lava at the end was a really interesting gimmick, but was probably the only one, and cramped tunnels can cause probable death with enemies on the way.

[Valtteri]

Kley requested the level to be reviewed again since he changed it from the contest so I'll be moving this back among the pending levels.

[bossedit8]

Original Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql57PaKOuVc

[Axiom]

Review - Expedition Foundation

Holy shit this level..I..I was just in awe. It was so Final Fantasy esque. Especially the dialogue from the one toad when you land..him just saying "It starts right here" boy that took me back to the FF10 days..

What I liked
-Do I really have to list everything?
-Very story driven as you mentioned
-All the characters felt like actual characters like oh my god, I enjoyed this
-Environments were nicely crafted
-Not too hard, not too easy. Good difficulty balance
-Exploration was fun

What I didn't like
-It was too short
-You're expanding this into an episode
-The block count limit in SMBX

Atmosphere: just wow...10/10 atmosphere was spot on I enjoyed every second of this level. environments felt unique and had atmosphere to them it was just..wow (repeating score so i can just look down and tally up 10/10)

Gameplay: again, WOW. simplistic exploration based gameplay and it was wonderful, that plot twist at the end though too. but it was too short! expand this into an episode please! 9/10

NPC Placement: NPC's were nicely placed, power-ups were plentiful considering what the level was going for and coins were plentiful. Yoshi coins were easy to find though 9/10

Graphics: standard Mario graphics/minimal cgfx use, which I like alot. the environments weren't any worse by using these in fact i think they benefitted from it. the only bit of really custom graphics was that underground tileset which I LOVED. 10/10

Overall Score: 9.5/10 my god..do yourself a favour and play this level. especially if you enjoy final fantasy or other extremely story driven games

[Superiorstar]

This level highly deserves this score, but IMO how you judge the graphics was highly unfair.
Great level nonetheless.

[Axiom]

This level highly deserves this score, but IMO how you judge the graphics was highly unfair.
Great level nonetheless.

How is it unfair? It was pleasing to look at, and I appreciated the minimal use of custom graphics. I wouldn't take off points if he used a shit ton of them, I would take off points if he used a shit ton of custom graphics that didn't go together.

[HarrisonTheKitsune]

please make a sequel!

[bossedit8]

please make a sequel!

Please don't go off-topic like that! I know that you want a sequel out of this but at least focus more to the Level by itself! You can PM to the auther as well.