[SM] Z-Factor Hack v1.3

[messiaen]

Finished it in 14 hours, 73%. Here are some thoughts on it:

[spoiler]
First of all, I'm not a very good Metroid player, but I've played all major hacks, and a few minor ones. This is defintely a superb hack, no question about it, but contrary to what the author said, I think this is the hardest (full) hack to this date. I couldn't finish Redesign, but I still thinks it isn't as hard as this one. It absolutely requires savestate abuse and some difficult moves (Wrecked Ship, I'm looking at you. That spot reminded of a similar jump in Eris 2012, which also got me mad). There are also very few places to refill your energy (and those are too slow), which I think is bad when there's such a huge map to explore (multiple times). I especially didn't like lack of refill points before some major bosses. While it is valid as it makes the player more careful, it also meant more savestates than usual for me and a slower pace. I couldn't imagine this being played on a console. Towards the end of the hack, I was getting frustrated and watched a few videos to help me, as it gets very confusing.

Another things that could be improved:
- Crateria felt much more unpolished than the rest of the hack (probably the first thing you worked on?)
- Areas could be connected better, I felt like I wasted so much time trying to find the right paths to get where I wanted to. Brinstar was sometimes a pain to navigate early in the game.
- Finding the map station on Maridia was easy, however I couldn't find that specific breakable block after the save station even after asking help on this forum. Again, if was more close to a dead end it would have been so much more natural. I then decided to search X-Ray, which is absolutely needed on this hack. I had found that power bomb door very early, however it's also something I simply forgot.
- I did notice the path to Lower Norfair very early, however hours later I couldn't remember it (also, on a few screens that contrast may be more hard to spot). If only it was on dead end it would be way easier for me to remember it. As other people have pointed out, I don't agree it shouldn't really be hidden at all, make it more obvious and people will always remember they will have to revisit that spot. It's just a pattern of perception, playing with short term memory until it gets more fixed on the players mind. However, this wasn't really a major issue, Lower Norfair was. The path to lower the acid is SO  badly placed (worse than that block in Maridia), as its VERY subtle and X-Ray can't catch it. After Maridia, I didn't want to waste more hours so I just watched a video for the solution (as a matter of curiosity, who else did that?).

And the GREAT things:
- Very nice Tourian
- Overall, great room design
- Much bigger than I expected
- Very fun despite some flaws

[/spoiler] 

[Quietus]

I'm still chipping away at this. :^_^:

I'm after a hint on how to get out of the area with the red shutter gates in Lower Norfair.  I entered the right-hand room through the crumble blocks, so there's no way back up there; the left-hand room appears to be a dead end (the rest of this hack would say otherwise, but I can't find a way out), and the acid-filled room in the middle is blocked at the top.  Hint, please?

[Derakon]

As discussed earlier, by going the wrong way through a green gate in Lower Norfair (which is what I assume you did), you left yourself open to a permastuck. You were supposed to have found a way to lower the acid, removing the "stopper in the drain" and allowing free access from the top. I hope you have a savestate or savegame that's pretty recent.

That said, I'd suggest making it impossible to wrong-way that particular gate (or else make it possible to escape the post-crumbleblock area after you have), since several people have been caught by that now.

[LReyomeXX]

Strangely enough, in Advent, I haven't noticed your hint in that save room because I exited the room as soon I entered it. The fact is, I was not needing to save, and in my mind, hiding the main path in a save room was just not possible. I was not expecting to progress this way because guess what ? SM never does this. SM taught us those are safe rooms. Just like X-ray is not needed. See how everyone builds its own mental rules, eh ?  :wink:

Just like Redesign's save points are not necessarily "safe points"

[Quote58]

First off, let's go over some of the many sequence breaking there is to be done.
[spoiler]
-Wrecked ship can be broken into early and gravity can be obtained without both speed booster or grapple.[/spoiler]

Can you elaborate on this one?  I figured out how to get into the wrecked ship, but I'm stuck at the one big crateria room after the boss.

Totally forgot to reply to this, sorry.
Ya, that's just before gravity. I have only found one way that could for sure get you over the gap, but it's something even I am not consistently good at.
If you /really/ want gravity early, what you need to do is freeze the enemy that brings you closest to the top of the water, and bomb jump out just like in the other lake, but from there you need to horizontally bomb jump across the lake. That's the hard part. Diagonal bomb jumping goes too high for the purpose, and I have yet to find another way that could get one across the lake.
So if you choose to try it, good luck to you sir.

[Quietus]

I finally got done.  93% and 14:45.  Agree with everybody else about Tourian, in that it's the best I've ever seen. :cool:

Edit: I missed 1 Energy Tank, 1 Reserve Tank, 3 Missile packs, 1 Super pack, and 2 Power bomb packs.  That doesn't seem to make sense percentage wise, but I presume it's correct.

[xxxzzz1]

Does anybody know were Crocomire is? I have wave beam and Ice but I cant find him anywhere!

[RedDragon4q2]

Does anybody know were Crocomire is? I have wave beam and Ice but I cant find him anywhere!

yeah [spoiler]in the north eastern part of norfair is a room with lava and crumble block platforms and at the top of the room is a wave beam gate shoot the gate and you'll be on your way to him[/spoiler]

[xxxzzz1]

thank you, I found Crocomire! now does anyone know were High jump is?

[Odiumology]

Finally managed to finish it 78% on 15 Hours

My input:

[spoiler]

This is one awesome hacks, it does have certain flaws tho, but in my opinion, none of those make this hack any less good.

Dificulty wise: I have to admit, when you start and you lack Varia/Gravity, there are certain places that are almost impossible, for example Norfair, the fact that lava + spikes + hell runs, its really annoying, because you would be likely dead in no time, making you belive you are in the wrong way, thus (in my opinion) making you  try to find other ways to advance in the hack. Regardless of that i found it challenging and quite interesting, i loved it once i got used to it, but i gotta admit it made me want to ragequit more than once.

Hints: I spent a lot of time backtracking with no idea where to go, the hack could use a bit more hints and make them a bit more obvious to the player, to be honest, i found most of those by pure luck more than anything.

Aesthetics and level Design: I absolutely love what you did with this game, the palletes, and details made it purely awesome. I also have to say i absolutely love what you did with Tourian, its different, pretty interesting and it gives it dramatic touch to it.

Bosses: I love what you did with some bosses, and honestly i would have loved to see more middle bosses of your own. Most of them were hard but not to the point to make them impossible to beat, the hardest boss for me was Draygon and the easiest one  was Ridley.

Sequence Breaking: As other people have said, sometimes the lack of obvious hints and the difficult parts make the experienced players use advanced techs to find items or get unstuck, and pretty often, i thought those were intended to be used in order to advance, but apparently i was mistaken

Overall: I loved this hack, and its one of those that id prolly replay to get a better % and time, thank you for making a good hack, there's some things you can polish and work on, but overall this is one of the best hacks out there.

Ps: This are only my opinions, so take them as you may.
Pss: Sorry for the butchered english, not my main language.


[/spoiler]

[altoiddealer]

thank you, I found Crocomire! now does anyone know were High jump is?

[spoiler]I'm really not that far in the game, but I just found high jump in Norfair, not too far in either, surprised you missed it. Theres a room w/ lots of those flying creatures that dart around, and a ledge thats too high to jump to. Go left a room, then in the bottom right of the new room bomb the floor by the door[/spoiler]

[danidub]

High jump is:
[spoiler]south-east of upper Norfair[/spoiler]

[passarbye]

will be playing this again.
played the first version and didn't really like it but it sounds like you got a lot of things fixed, so i figured i'd give it a second chance.

[Digital_Mantra]

16:14 / 88%   / V.1 First Play
17:54 / 100% / V.1 100% Attempt
2:16  / 47%   / V.1 Intended Path Run (Youtubed)
1:17  / 38%   / V.1 Speedrun  :twisted:

I'll try the newest version sometime.

[Quietus]

And now for the 100% speedrun. :heheh:

[Metaquarius]

I'll try the newest bullshit version sometime.

[Digital_Mantra]

Well, for every area you fixed that I didn't like, there's probably 10 others I would.

[RedDragon4q2]

i was wondering what the item maximums are in version 1.0 [spoiler] i have 255 missiles 40 supers 30 power bombs 3 reserve tanks and 13 energy tanks.[/spoiler] what am i missing?

[Digital_Mantra]

280/50/50

[Quietus]

^ Just to add slightly to the above, the other item totals are normal, so, in their respective order, you'll be missing: 5 Missile Expansions, 2 Super Missile Expansions, 4 Power Bomb Expansions, 1 Reserve Tank, and 1 Energy Tank.

[altoiddealer]

I think Im permastuck in Wrecked Ship

[spoiler]I have pbs, grapple, speedbooster. I entered wrecked ship from going up that shaft just outside, with the platforms that drop when standing on them... So the lower right of the ship.  There seems to be two ways out: a midair morph that maybe possible with tas tools , and a door thats too high to reach w/o gravity[/spoiler]

[Digital_Mantra]

I think Im permastuck in Wrecked Ship

[spoiler]I have pbs, grapple, speedbooster. I entered wrecked ship from going up that shaft just outside, with the platforms that drop when standing on them... So the lower right of the ship.  There seems to be two ways out: a midair morph that maybe possible with tas tools , and a door thats too high to reach w/o gravity[/spoiler]

You need to enter the right door where the waterline stops, begin running, as you run, shoot out the wall and jump to the ledge.

[altoiddealer]

I think Im permastuck in Wrecked Ship

[spoiler]I have pbs, grapple, speedbooster. I entered wrecked ship from going up that shaft just outside, with the platforms that drop when standing on them... So the lower right of the ship.  There seems to be two ways out: a midair morph that maybe possible with tas tools , and a door thats too high to reach w/o gravity[/spoiler]

You need to enter the right door where the waterline stops, begin running, as you run, shoot out the wall and jump to the ledge.

Ahhh ok, I had a good running start there but did not start above the waterline. Thanks!  Loving this hack so far, glad to have a break from Maridia lol

[Digital_Mantra]

You poor, poor soul..

[Metaquarius]

Z-Factor v1.3
Another update. This will be the last big update, since everytime I edit this hack, things gets thrashed... :eyeroll:
This update is focused on making the main path less "painful" to figure out. :nod:
At least, there's definitely no comparison between this and the first version to this regard. :^_^:

Check out the main post for patch and complete changeLog.
Warning : this patch is not compatible with previous version saves.

To anyone feeling like making a map for this hack, it would be really appreciated. :^_^: