Dark PerGron’s Reviews (for challenge 5)
Alright, better late than never, as they say. I wanted to commend both teams for your hard work this round. I know this time of year can be challenging, especially for those in the service industry, to be available and present to help teams, so I appreciate you all for continuing to play and help make this game as fun as can be. No matter what I or the other hosts do or come up with, it’s you all that make it work, without players we’d just be writing some crappy story about a mansion, and that’s a waste of time, so again, thank you for your participation!
Now this round we did lose
@Tegan pilots a chicken, so I wanted to quickly throw in a thank you to her for jumping in and playing along with us! Tegan now finishes the game in 11th place. Her departure also does set eliminations back another round, but that’s okay, we’ll make it work. So going forward, pending no further drop outs, eliminations will begin two rounds from now in Round 8 of the competition rather than Round 7.
Alright, so let’s get on in here. I was really excited for this round’s prompt and thought it had the opportunity for some really exciting stuff to come out of it. We’ve seen S.E.A. get thrown around so many times in these competitions, but it’s always an interesting theme for inclusion and I wanted to see how you all would include it in parks that maybe didn’t fit the general vibes, Hollywood Studios especially. So needless to say, these projects had me very enticed and I’m super excited to jump into them!
Team Lore- S.E.A. Project
To start off, the inclusion of the overview page was great and I appreciate little details like that. Just a tiny bit of world building that also helps to flesh out the gist of what you’re getting into for the uninitiated or less familiar reader. Including stuff like this in a presentation is always a nice inclusion and I just wanted to say I appreciated it!
Starting now with Magic Kingdom and
S.E.A. Battle-x-plorers, I think the general concept here was phenomenal. I always really enjoyed Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom, though I can’t say I ever beat it. I just enjoyed going in any time I was at the park and dragging my family along with me to get four booster packs and try to collect all the cards. It was one of those fun and exciting optional things that really leaves the parks feeling empty now that they’re gone. That being said, a S.E.A. themed game would make a ton of sense and would be a great way to incorporate the society into the parks in a way that welcomes people without requiring this deep knowledge of lore from the average park guest.
For your write-up, I appreciate the planning that went into the whole affair, be it the gameplay or even the sign-up areas. This clearly was an idea that
@Miru had a lot of passion for. Now, this passion has also bitten you in the behind before, so for this attraction it had me a bit worried. Now to jump right into it, who is Smelding? This character is pretty prominent in the experience but has no introduction like the rest of the characters do and the frequency of their appearance made me really confused as I was reading it. I don’t know if there was a mistake in translating from page to website or if this was overlooked, but this character just appears and had me confused.
Speaking of confused, Tomorrowland’s addition completely and utterly lost me. Was this write-up a write-up of the redone Speedway or a write-up of the game being played? Do you have to play the game for this ride to work? I think cutting the redo of the ride entirely and focusing on your game should’ve been what you did because I found myself struggling to identify what it was I was actually reading. Clearly these characters and storylines have been developed and you cared a lot for the story you were trying to tell, but I couldn’t tell where it was accessible from or what exactly was going on? Next time, try not to overcomplicate things and just stick to the simple track. Work smarter, not harder, ya know!
As for Fantasyland, Adventureland, and the Finale, I actually really enjoyed these bits. I would’ve liked a bit more on Adventureland, but I know time was an issue here and I was just happy to see it included. I was going to comment at the beginning about the Despair Blot feeling weird for a S.E.A. attraction as that’s how I felt at the beginning, but as I read, I kind of just found it fitting in more and more and actually grew to kind of like the concept. This big supernatural shadowy power being the big bad makes sense for a S.E.A. game and I think you tied it all together pretty well. Tomorrowland was definitely the weak link here and I would have liked it to be more clear, but in the end, I would absolutely try out this game if it was real, so great job!
Epcot is a difficult one because I know there are a lot of Epcot purists out there who would scoff at the inclusion of S.E.A. in the park. While I’m pretty anti-IP in Epcot myself, I do think the society could be an interesting inclusion in the park as they are park-original IP anyway. That being said, I have to get a critique out of the way here; I wish you hadn’t included the S.E.A. into the World Showcase. To me, World Showcase should be about the actual culture and whatnot and S.E.A. being included kind of cheapens that a little bit. That’s not a critique against your ride and I knew it was most likely where teams would put these experiences, but it was a challenge I wanted to see how you guys dealt with it and y’all fell into that trap. Oh well, c’est la vie!
Scrolls from Pompeii made for an interesting attraction and one that I could definitely see what you were going for, but I don’t really know if it succeeded in that goal. I think to start off, this didn’t really feel like a S.E.A. attraction, if only because there weren’t really any S.E.A. specific mentions or anything. The introduction to Padre Piaggio was all fine and good, but while I assume he is a new S.E.A. member due to the context clues of the project, you didn’t really specify this nor his ties to the organization. That’s unfortunate because I did find the character really interesting in your brainstorming. A theologist member of the organization is fascinating and I would’ve loved to explore that a bit more.
As for the attraction itself, this may seem like an unfair critique, but this felt like you wrote up a pre-show. The whole narration and explanation from the characters, it felt like all the exposition yet by the time we were getting into the ride, the ride was over. I would’ve loved to have explored the ruins a bit more, or maybe even take the creative license to travel back to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. As is, though, it just felt a little bit half-baked and could’ve used a bit more.
Jumping into Hollywood Studios, this was probably the hardest of the four based solely on the current version of S.E.A. that we know of. That being said, I do think there are a lot of interesting characters you could create to fit comfortably within the park. I think with
Williams’ Illusion Cafe: A Magical Culinary Escape, this is a really interesting idea and brings back a phenomenal idea for a magic-themed restaurant at DHS. I really did enjoy the backstory put into it and the character biography, but I do wish we could’ve had a bit more in terms of the environment. The story is super cool and just a little bit more in terms of environment and setting would’ve really plussed this project up for me.
So there’s absolutely no surprise when I say that Animal Kingdom is my absolute favorite park. There should also be no surprise when I say that Animal Kingdom needs more rides and you strive to amend that with
Voyage of the Sunrise Moon (which is a 10/10 name by the way). I think your placemaking here is great, that expansion pad behind Kali could definitely be used for something and due to the animal housing back there, it can’t really be a massive land so your inclusion fits well. My biggest issue here is that while your reasoning and your queue are well-written, there’s really very little about the actual ride to the point I don’t really have an understanding for what it is I’d be seeing. Again, I understand time constraints and whatnot, but I would’ve loved to see more of the ride.
Overall, I have to say this project was kind of a mixed bag for me. I liked the framework for everything you’ve established, but by the time we got into detail, it was either too confusing or just overall lacking in the detail department. I loved what you were going for, but in the end, walked away kind of disappointed.
Team Legend Trip Report
Alright, I’m gonna say I’m kicking myself for not reading this back when it was first submitted. Unfortunately the holiday week just got the better of me, but I absolutely loved the setup for this. I love a unique project style and while I know trip reports have been done before, they’re not the most common and always scratch that creative writing itch that just plusses the projects being worked on. While it was very against my nature to let you all leave the Manor (I’m bound to the cursed place after all) I’m glad it worked out well for all.
Jumping right in because I have four reviews to post tonight, we have the
Enchanted Exploratorium at the Magic Kingdom. I’m not really a Tomorrowland fan and any time I see a project set in Tomorrowland, I kind of groan a little bit because of how little I care for the land. That being said, if this was real, I’d probably be more willing to visit that side of the park! At first I was thinking it would be a dark ride of some sort, but it actually ended up being an exhibit space?! That’s like my favorite part of old Epcot, to have it here would be super cool.
I think the selected exhibits would be an absolute blast to see and explore around, it fits the wonder of the Disney parks, plus the idea Walt originally had where Tomorrowland would be about discovery and science and whatever. The combination of exhibits was excellent and all were just interesting enough as well as just believable enough to exist, though I can only imagine the line and the cost of the food creation exhibit haha. I also think the inclusion of Dr. Luminis was well done at the beginning, establishing how this tied in to S.E.A. without overdoing it. The key to S.E.A. is it’s there for those who know but invisible to those who don’t care and I think this balanced that well. It fleshed out the character while simultaneously not having her detract for those who don’t know about S.E.A.
Over at Epcot, we jump into
Man’s Odyssey. This ride seems great, but at the beginning you showed off the old Odyssey restaurant. Is there space here for such a massive boat ride? I’m not really sure. That said, I did enjoy the buildup through the queue and exploring EPCOT through the loading area. I’m sure Disney fans would have an absolute blast deciphering every tiny detail of it, and I’m sure it would get Offhand Disney millions of views on his inevitable video about all the secrets hidden inside.
I think the ride itself was really interesting and well thought out, with clear dedication and effort put into each scene here. All the animatronics and sight gags and whatnot, but one kind of major thing kept leaping out at me: this is just a plussed up it’s a small world. And yeah, you kind of set that tone at the beginning with it being a sequel or spiritual successor, but really, it follows the exact same story beats, going into each continent with sight gags for different cultures and culminating in a big unity celebration at the end. There are some clear changes, such as the S.E.A. tie in narrator, who was fun but maybe a bit too present for this sort of ride? But in the end, it still followed all the same beats. If it’s a small world didn’t exist or wasn’t still around, I think this would’ve been a lot stronger, but as is, it’s a strong exercise in writing but maybe a little bit too close to the source material. Minus people streaking through of course.
Heading to DHS, “a short biography.” Is that what that is
@TheOriginalTiki ;p
But seriously, I think this character is the most compelling one we’ve had so far! If S.E.A. is going to be implemented somehow, I think the way to do it is either how y’all did it in Tomorrowland, or this, featuring it as a character piece with the Society more of a small thing in the background. I also really enjoyed the inclusion of a character meet and greet, something I think Disney should do more of, both with originals and their IP characters.
This definitely felt like a Tiki wish fulfillment story. I mean, come on. Backrests on seats? No cringe audience interaction? Half the fun of going to these things is being ridiculously uncomfortable, both physically and emotionally!
Carson Levi’s Grand Expedition was a really effective stunt show in all seriousness. I was fully enthralled with the physical sets and the use of the Volume technology, something Disney should do more with in park and less in Star Wars shows, as it all blended together to create a really exciting show. I also enjoyed the somewhat darker undertones the show had with the main character being an explorer who cannot explore, that was an interesting twist. Overall, not a ton to say but I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Alright, Animal Kingdom… Just this intro has me in a mood, I adore Planet Watch and won’t stand for the slander lol. But I’ll set that aside and see what you all can do here. I do really like the original character and the backstory behind him. I know you were going to go with a character inspired by me, and as funny as that would’ve been
I already have one in Harrison Hightower I’m glad you went a different route and made a character with a much more interesting backstory.
The
Trails of Africa is a really interesting concept, a new walkthrough focusing on natural environments is definitely a fitting addition to Animal Kingdom and I think all of the show scenes you included here were really great. My biggest qualm here was probably that I could’ve used more descriptors of how the effects were achieved. Based on the little quips here and there throughout, I figure most of it (if not all) is indoors with screens, but it also seems like some scenes are practical? A few more inclusions here in terms of how it actually works would’ve benefitted a bit more, but I still did appreciate the work that went into it and the scenes that were done were awesome. The best part is you left the Planet Watch otherwise mostly alone haha, love that place.
Overall, both teams had their positives and negatives, but I think despite the time issues and the personal life challenges, and losing a player, I think both teams managed to achieve some great successes. Great job!
