The Return of Dr Sloth - The End?

[Ange]

I did mean short time-wise, not comic-installment-wise. And yep, LI plot was so short that I actually missed it.

Now for the not-short part: prizes. I say about 5 months.

[mercurius]

It's funny because in the past, people complained that plots moved along too slowly. I don't think pacing is what the problem is. I think TNT just shortchanged it for other things like DD. Otherwise I think they did very well with it. I just wish they'd lay out some scoring guidelines beforehand. I'd like to be able to see a goal. As much as I love neopets, I have a job and don't want to beat 20,000 grundo troops only to find out the "win limit" was 30.

[ChaosShadow]

I think the reason for not posting a goal to work toward was in another thread; they probably won't know how to work out the score until the plot's over. It depends on a bevy of factors, and they have to know what the top scores are before they can calculate how that affects everybody else.

The LI plot, I think, already had that predisposed; certain amount of points for each section, plus points for killing the BD opponents once. Each of the steps was eliminated soon as the next one was available in order to benefit the people who worked immediately. In this situation, leaving the steps open straight to the end, Neopets probably did have preconceived notions, so they really don't have any means of levying a scoring system prematurely.

(Although I would really, really like to see how the LI plot was scored; I think 1325 was the highest you could get, and it's such a funky number...)

That's my excuse for them, anyway. It's how I run my RPG, too, by using average information during events in order to calculate prizes after its over.

[Karnatu]

Sloth was a clown, how couldn't you notice that? His speeches were mostly only adding humour to the story. He didn't show anything that comes from a mastermind bad guy.

As for the steps, they were also bad, look:
1. An easy maze challenge which you could get the answers from some sites and job done after 5 minutes.
2. An EXTREMELY hard puzzle that probably half the people couldn't complete and if you were unlucky it would take a week or so.
3. An extremely easy game that takes at most 15 minutes.
4. Some Battling...
5. some token testing which the instructions were explained so vaguely that you'd have to read some sites and petpages to understand what to do.

And Kenjiro you can't say that the plot wasn't hyped, it was Sloth not any ordinary villian!

[ChaosShadow]

It wasn't hyped, though. 'Hyped' would entail that TNT went highly out of there way to advertise the plot and make everybody expect everything from them. Whatever 'hype' the plot had was entirely due to the fact that it was once canceled, was revived, and was about Sloth, which immediately causes excitement... but even if it hadn't been Sloth, everybody would have been excited. It's a plot, after all; I know I'm excited whenever I see one, regardless of what it is.

The fact that it involved Sloth is what made everybody assume it would be the end-all of plots... although the question is why. Sloth might be considered a major villain, but his prior plots haven't exactly been stellar. The ones he was really involved in, if I'm correct, were the original Sloth plot, and the Brucey B. Lost Desert war way back when. He was also 'involved' in the Neopets v2.0 plot, but in that one, he just happened to have programmed v2.0, and gave cryptic hints as to how to defeat it. That was it.

As for the steps... the level of their 'badness' is entirely based on opinion. I wouldn't say they were bad at all. The fact that the maze at the beginning had guides produced for it is no fault of TNT's; the three-mods, admittedly, were quite hard if you tried to do them mathematically, but rather simple if you just brute-forced the answer. And once you had a real strategy for finding them, it was just a series of trial-and-error. Tedious, admittedly, not overtly fun, but I have to admit that I didn't get at all frustrated, and I felt highly accomplished once it was over.

My mazes certainly took more than fifteen minutes, due mostly to my bad luck, but after the three-mods it was a refreshing step. In no way is battling a bad step, and as for the token testing, it's fairly obvious that people really were supposed to work together on that one, both literally and by sharing and comparing information results.

Of course, if you didn't have fun, can't really argue with that, that's rather unfortunate. *shrugs*

[Daze]

Plot board has been moved further down the Neoboards Index. Usually it sits on top.

Nothing to earth-shattering but I thought I would mention it. I wonder if we are getting another new board soon for Keyquest?

There is a new board for Neohomes

[Pickles]

Plot board has been moved further down the Neoboards Index. Usually it sits on top.

Nothing to earth-shattering but I thought I would mention it. I wonder if we are getting another new board soon for Keyquest?

Oooh, quite possibly. I'm wondering how they're going to pull off "talking with others while playing" - it almost sounds like they might be permitting some sort of live chat. {shrugs}

I wonder what types of things will be plot prizes, though? If they *do* end up having a keyquest token as a plot prize, I'll bet they try to get them out quickly to encourage participation in keyquest.

I'm hoping for a sidebar for sure, and maybe a decent weapon and some cool wearables - maybe the token or even a miniature Primary Grundo Bot RZ894 that could look like a "guard" for you pet.
I wonder if they'll do a paintbrush - and if so, which one? Since there's not mutant or robot, it'll be interesting...

[Matrinka]

Plot board has been moved further down the Neoboards Index. Usually it sits on top.

Nothing to earth-shattering but I thought I would mention it. I wonder if we are getting another new board soon for Keyquest?

Oooh, quite possibly. I'm wondering how they're going to pull off "talking with others while playing" - it almost sounds like they might be permitting some sort of live chat. {shrugs}

I wonder what types of things will be plot prizes, though? If they *do* end up having a keyquest token as a plot prize, I'll bet they try to get them out quickly to encourage participation in keyquest.

I'm hoping for a sidebar for sure, and maybe a decent weapon and some cool wearables - maybe the token or even a miniature Primary Grundo Bot RZ894 that could look like a "guard" for you pet.
I wonder if they'll do a paintbrush - and if so, which one? Since there's not mutant or robot, it'll be interesting...

I'm expecting Keyquest to be a lot like Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom. You can chat in real time, but there are moderators who monitor chat at all times and certain words are flat out blocked. I had fun making up horrid comments trying to get around the filters there. Mention swords and Cinderella and you get booted out for a set amount of time. Childish, but fun.

[schlough]

Spacerocked!: Sloth is back again in full force! This time, he's sent an entire fleet of spaceships to take over the moon. If Kreludor falls to the evil mad scientist, his victory over all of Neopia may very well follow.

Play as one of the moon Grundos and defend your home and freedom. Fire at Sloth's ships with your pocket slingshot and keep them at bay. If you can prove your skill, the other Grundos will let you take over the bigger slingshot so you can do some major damage to Sloth's fleet. Just remember, Kreludor must be protected at all costs!

New game in beta testing - If sloth is locked in the space faerie's token, why are they planning on launching a Sloth comeback game? Perhaps there will be a part two? Yeah, I know. Sad that I'm still hoping it's not over, but that first sentence tends to re-ignight my dying hope that the end wasn't really the end.

(Of course, there ARE about a million things in neopia that already contradict each other... sigh.)

Edit: Or, now that I've looked at it again, it's going to be a really, really, really, really late game attached to the plot that we've already had? Maybe? Boo.

[Pickles]

Spacerocked!: Sloth is back again in full force! This time, he's sent an entire fleet of spaceships to take over the moon. If Kreludor falls to the evil mad scientist, his victory over all of Neopia may very well follow.

Play as one of the moon Grundos and defend your home and freedom. Fire at Sloth's ships with your pocket slingshot and keep them at bay. If you can prove your skill, the other Grundos will let you take over the bigger slingshot so you can do some major damage to Sloth's fleet. Just remember, Kreludor must be protected at all costs!

New game in beta testing - If sloth is locked in the space faerie's token, why are they planning on launching a Sloth comeback game? Perhaps there will be a part two? Yeah, I know. Sad that I'm still hoping it's not over, but that first sentence tends to re-ignight my dying hope that the end wasn't really the end.

(Of course, there ARE about a million things in neopia that already contradict each other... sigh.)

As much as I hate to say it, it's probably a game designed to go along with the plot - IOW, they probably intended to release it during the attack on Kreludor. Plot-related, yes, but not released in tangent with the plot. Kinda like Attack of the Revenge was related to the Curse of Maraqua plot.
At least, that's my theory.

[afyapardess]

New game in beta testing - If sloth is locked in the space faerie's token, why are they planning on launching a Sloth comeback game? Perhaps there will be a part two? Yeah, I know. Sad that I'm still hoping it's not over, but that first sentence tends to re-ignight my dying hope that the end wasn't really the end.

(Of course, there ARE about a million things in neopia that already contradict each other... sigh.)

Edit: Or, now that I've looked at it again, it's going to be a really, really, really, really late game attached to the plot that we've already had? Maybe? Boo.

Yeah.... sorry, but this looks to me like the battle for Kreludor that happened during the plot. With the big slingshot and the giant fleet and everything. There might be another Sloth plot in future - I'd even say 'will' be, at some point - but I don't expect it for a good long while. (And even if it does have another 'half', don't forget we're still waiting for part 2 of the Lost Isle plot....)

At least it's a cute, quick-to-play game. I'm already singing to that silly soundtrack.

Last edited by afyapardess on Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Rakumel]

If you can prove your skill, the other Grundos will let you take over the bigger slingshot so you can do some major damage to Sloth's fleet.

Wait, you mean if I do well enough at this game, the Grundos will let me play with the Great Pachinko, Kabuto? SWEEEEEEET.

Beta testing, huh? So I'm guessing one can't play it yet unless they have Premium?

I don't know if this merits its own thread or not, but while we're waiting for prizes to be released - well, what kind of prizes would you all like to see? There's a few ray gun-like weapons out already, but another one, or a laser gun toy/pointer/water pistol wouldn't hurt. Rock'em Sock'em Grundo Elite figures would be amusing. Perhaps a fake Space Faerie charm for our pet to wear (yeah, I know, supposedly they all got destroyed when Sloth's ship blew up, but we can pretend that maybe a few got flung down to Neopia and were able to withstand the intense heat and friction upon re-entering the atmosphere).

[afyapardess]

Beta testing, huh? So I'm guessing one can't play it yet unless they have Premium?

No-one can play it for Neopoints yet. Beta testers get to play the game, but can't send any scores. But you might still be able to play - try http://www.neopets.com/games/play.phtml?game_id=964.

I'd like to see at least one decent weapon (decent = 9+ icons) even though I won't win it. But to guess, I'd say there'll be a keyring, a bobblehead, at least one book, a plushie, a crap weapon, and a toy play set with a cheesy description. I'll do what I always do and let my plot points gather a thick layer of dust before I evaluate prize values. (My Tale of Woe points are still untouched...)

[Pickles]

I don't know if this merits its own thread or not, but while we're waiting for prizes to be released - well, what kind of prizes would you all like to see? There's a few ray gun-like weapons out already, but another one, or a laser gun toy/pointer/water pistol wouldn't hurt. Rock'em Sock'em Grundo Elite figures would be amusing. Perhaps a fake Space Faerie charm for our pet to wear (yeah, I know, supposedly they all got destroyed when Sloth's ship blew up, but we can pretend that maybe a few got flung down to Neopia and were able to withstand the intense heat and friction upon re-entering the atmosphere).

I was re-reading this and I had a few more ideas:
- a Yurbot petpet
- a card house that can stand next your pet - but looks like it's about to fall over
- a multi-purpose decryption machine - good for decrypting messages of all variables and modifiers
- a Gormos "gopher" plushie - go get me my coffee!
- a singularity - it could be a sort of "toy" that when "played" with will spit out a random item, then disappear
- a sloth portrait background - because of course, your pet needs to be surrounded by the power

Okay, that's enough creativity for my brain right now.

[bluehypnosis]

As for the steps... the level of their 'badness' is entirely based on opinion. I wouldn't say they were bad at all.

I agree - I actually like the steps. The only problem is like some people have mentioned earlier the plot progress is out of sync to the steps which makes me feel like what we do doesn't really matter and that the plot ending seemed rushed.
I particularly would like to thank the people who put out the guides to explain how each steps work as I found those really helpful (it's from those guides that I actually manage to at least complete all the steps). I wish the token testing part would last for a longer time as it is actually time consuming and involves multiple steps.

Tedious, admittedly, not overtly fun, but I have to admit that I didn't get at all frustrated, and I felt highly accomplished once it was over.

Yes, sense of accomplishment - after I got THE 'Mod', every time when I get one token tested successfully. It is because of the many unsuccessful attempts that made you appreciate more for the successful ones.

As for prizes, I would like to get a 'split' costume (which would create the effect of Parlax)...that way, I don't need to get a split paint brush and if I get 2 costumes, I can get 2 of my pets 'split-coloured' and the costumes are re-usable too...(day dreaming.....)