The Return of Dr Sloth - The End?

[Lee]

MayEdit: Continue discussing the Return of Dr. Sloth and its ending here!

Previous thread: here

You know what this plot's ending felt like? KotOR II's ending. And we all well some of us, know what happened to that.

OMG I don't agree enough. I'm one of those people who likes closure in the ending. But I like if they do leave you with a bit to wonder about.

Last edited by Lee on Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Mongrel]

You know what this plot's ending felt like? KotOR II's ending. And we all well some of us, know what happened to that.

OMG I don't agree enough. I'm one of those people who likes closure in the ending. But I like if they do leave you with a bit to wonder about.

KotOR II?

[afyapardess]

KotOR II?

The Star Wars game 'Knights of the Old Republic II' - the disappointing sequel to one of the best role-playing games of all time.

[Rubywinged]

You know I have to say i think one of the worse things TNT did with this plot was the puzzles. oh please DON'T get me wrong i love puzzle steps but let's all face it if we didnt have PPT figuring out HOW To do near any of the steps would not have happened. The mods maybe, the guards most likely, but as for the last steps it wouldnt have happened. I don't care how old you are the math steps given where something that where beyond reach for dang near anyone! I feel very let down by that. I mean any other plot with puzzles yea if you didnt have the 'help' of something it would have taken you longer but you most likely could have figured it out. This plot was not that way. If you didnt know the right equations the group step was basically impossible. Let alone maybe happening upon the right metals to make a rod, and the acid wasn't even totally figured out (never did get to do that step myself)

Overall I have to say this plot with its story holes and unconnected steps/puzzles and its overall HARD puzzles just disappointed more then it made me glad for a plot. And the slot plot at that

Yes i know i've grumbled my displeasure once but I still just feel let down right now.

[Pickles]

Well, I've had almost two days now, and I still feel like I enjoyed the plot, but was sad it ended. I'm still really glad it came at a time that I was able to participate as much as I wanted. There's still nothing around that matches up to a Neo plot. Looking back at it, I really can't say I didn't enjoy any part of it, with the exception of the sadness of it being over - but that would have come no matter when it ended.

afyapardess, I'm really sorry it ended right in the middle of your last 3mod. That stinks on so many levels, it's not even funny. {huggles}

On another note, I discovered that the guy who wrote the plot parody has finished it:
Parts 1-9
Parts 10+

I'm still proud of my battle wins: 450-80-10, 300-40, 1. I might've been able to get to 500 on the first one, but I got lazy.
My husband did much better than me (of course, his pet is much better trained, and he decided to buy a full freezer halfway through, and most of his weapons are better than mine). His wins were: 1000-175-25,600-90, 10. He probably could've done a lot more on the easier two, but he had more homework start showing up at the end.

I wish I'd kept track of how many of the individual and group effort things I'd done. I want to say I did at least 20 rods, 5 acids, and probably at least 30 singularities, and I think 9 group testings, but I could be wrong. {makes note to self to keep better track of such things next plot}
On a related note, I'm betting TNT closed down the testing facility because of how slowly things were progressing - there were roughly, what, 10,000 tokens tested by the end of Sunday night? Out of how many? (the random room thing would put you in the lowest number room still open). Of course, someone might have actually found the token (and I still hope it was actually found), but the fact of the matter is that it took quite some time for each token to be tested, even if your group went through perfectly every round. Between that and the fact that the acid formulas were for the most part, not discovered until right before they closed it down...I think TNT might have figured they made that part a *little* too hard/complicated for mass group effort. Unlike previous group efforts (grave-digging, stone-moving, etc), this one actually required more than just clicking to move on. While that was great if you found a good group to work with (I was fortunate enough to), for those who didn't, it stunk badly, and I think TNT figured that out and moved on because of it. That's, of course, all in theory, but it makes sense to me.

Anyways, yeah.

Edit: Oh, and it occurred to me, we might get Keyquest tokens as an option for prizes. They mentioned that we would be able to get them from site events, so I'm wondering if that'll happen here. Just a thought.

Days since plot ended: 2

[Mongrel]

Edit: Oh, and it occurred to me, we might get Keyquest tokens as an option for prizes. They mentioned that we would be able to get them from site events, so I'm wondering if that'll happen here. Just a thought.

I've been wondering the same thing. I'm half-hoping they do, and half-hoping they don't. It'd be interesting to see what Key Quest is all about--but it'd be irritating to have all the inevitable complaining that would come with it.

[darkfire]

You know what this plot's ending felt like? KotOR II's ending. And we all well some of us, know what happened to that.

OMG I don't agree enough. I'm one of those people who likes closure in the ending. But I like if they do leave you with a bit to wonder about.

KotOR II?

Knight of the Old Republic II, it should have been a brilliant game but Lucas Arts forced them to send the game out six months earlier than was planned so it could hit the stores in time for Christmas. Which meant they had to cut every thing off right where they were. Leaving a lot ends just hanging and actually the entire planned ending had to be scrapped. Most of the original content planned for it is still packaged with the game and a group has been creating a Restoration package for it for the last three years I think, it's almost done. But anyway, I digress, the plot had the same... "umm, where's the rest of it" feel.

But more than that, I agree with whomever said the testing was just a bit too hard. There's NO WAY most of us would've been able to do any of it without guides. And I mean I'm not stupid when it comes to maths (I have a degree in the stupid thing) but it's not like was something you could work out... it was just random numbers that you had to by trial and error figure out. If everyone had to trial and error on their own until they found the correct numbers can you imagine how long that would have taken. I don't mind hard, I mean I love hard (I loved the 3 mods because if you didn't feel like brute force there were other ways you could figure it out), but that wasn't hard... that was... tedium.

[edhriel]

If everyone had to trial and error on their own until they found the correct numbers can you imagine how long that would have taken.

And, see, this is what confuses me. Based on the fact that you need a minimum number of successful trials to begin to craft a formula that will solve the acid-puzzle, I truly believe that TNT meant for that to be a puzzle that the community solved together. There's just no way a single person could get the requisite number of successful trials to get the math. And then you have the 3-mods, where the community finding a way to create a formula (i.e. the calculator) is just not allowed. I'm unclear on where the distinction is.

[schlough]

So, someone help me out. DID we ever actually have a purpose for the robot guarding the mines? Did that really come out at the same time as the original planned RODS plot or was it unrelated? It REALLY bugs me that there's a big unsolvable challenge just sitting on Kreludor for the rest of eternity.

[fructy]

So, someone help me out. DID we ever actually have a purpose for the robot guarding the mines? Did that really come out at the same time as the original planned RODS plot or was it unrelated? It REALLY bugs me that there's a big unsolvable challenge just sitting on Kreludor for the rest of eternity.

I believe that TNT once stated in the editorial that the mines had something to do with the (then canceled) Return of Dr Sloth plot.
I was also expecting that it somehow would be part of the plot. Guess we'll now never know what's it purpose is.

[Karnatu]

In short: Worst Plot ever.

At least the JLI hadn't such a stupid ending and had some organization and didn't have such random steps. I mean Sloth being a clown? And what are duplicate tokens? Not to mention the hyped up name " The Return of Dr Sloth", which brings even more expectations. People please make your posts shorter, it's annoying and for the reader and I personally ignore BIG posts.

[Lee]

In short: Worst Plot ever.

At least the JLI hadn't such a stupid ending and had some organization and didn't have such random steps. I mean Sloth being a clown? And what are duplicate tokens? Not to mention the hyped up name " The Return of Dr Sloth", which brings even more expectations.

I think while I don't think it was my favorite plot, I don't think it was the worst. We got what lots of people asked for; a challenging plot.

[Kenjiro]

People please make your posts shorter, it's annoying and for the reader and I personally ignore BIG posts.

If you ignore big posts, then you obviously don't read them. So how do they annoy you?

You're also being a bit harsh with your judgement, Karnatu. First off, nobody who knows Sloth would call him a clown. The title also didn't hype anything, it stated clear and simple what the plot was going to be about. The plot was hyped by the people. And it's not like there was nothing to do. Despite complaining about how this and that should have been done, many people liked the plot. There were good puzzles and battling, and mostly it's just the ending that disappointed people, nobody saw such an ending coming.

[Ange]

nobody saw such an ending coming.

I think nobody saw such an ending coming so soon. I think this may be one of the shortest plots, if not the shortest...but I'm too lazy to research that. Just...very disappointed.

[ChaosShadow]

I think this may be one of the shortest plots, if not the shortest...

Lost Island.

...yeah. Lost Island.

Although... Cyodrake's Gaze was pretty short, too, but I wouldn't really count that one. And in terms of overall comic content, this one had fourteen installments; that's not really short. The fact that it was released so quickly is what makes it so.

But let's be honest; if they had waited a week between comics -- all the comics -- everybody would have complained then, too, about the plot moving too slowly. It's pace was pretty wacky, but a week between comic installments, and the plot certainly would have been longer... but significantly less substantial at the same time. After finishing each step, which didn't take particularly long, the three-mods being the worst, I was ready to move on. Having to wait between steps would have been aggravating.

Granted, the plot definitely could have gone on longer, with more of the story being fleshed out, but eh, what're you gonna do, other than enjoy what you've got? Not saying that there aren't valid complaints (quite frankly, the ending was disappointing and abrupt; no getting around it), just saying... I'm not really sure, actually. Moving on.

It was fast-moving, but it wasn't really 'short'. If I recall, the original Meridell War had roughly the same number of comics, possibly a couple more, and lasted for two or three months, over which time it released nine war challengers total... many of which weren't actually accompanied by a comic.

EDIT: Just checked, actually. When I say 'comics', I mean 'installments', since the Kass War was the first one to use 'comics' instead of Flash cartoons. Regardless, Meridell I had thirteen total installments.

Although admittedly, I did have more fun during the Meridell-Darigan war. It was, however, my first Neopets plot, and so I guess it might also be nostalgia...