Honestly, I haven't even visited the area and I'm already disinterested. So far the areas, aside from the massive quoin areas, seem to be almost copies of the other regions of Ur, just jumbled into slight differences. While I get that there needs to be several areas of a type of terrain, I kind of wish they made each region have their own quirks or something that gives me a reason to continually go there instead of visiting at least once to get my completist badge.
I am less underwhelmed than I thought I might be! I love the coastal mountain scenery, but enough of that is enough already. These mountains are at least slightly different. But the Default Groddle music definitely detracts.
Edit: Though hmmm, the western part feels very Tamila Rehash.
It's because most animals, most trees and mining resources are available in most of the regions, as well as on home streets. New and unique resources, in addition to confining certain resources to certain geographical areas (like how jellisacs and fireflies are [except for home streets] only available in the swamp region) would do a lot to boost interest. I'm sure this is coming, but until it arrives, those areas are very samey-same.
I, for one, really want mushroom logs. <_<
(edited to sort out the munted sentence structure)
OK, yeah, this is interesting, as I explore further it feels like ideas for several new regions all glued together with bits of existing ones. There are parts I'm really digging -- the snowy cliffs à la Jameeda Meds, the beryl-tinted caves, the terraced effect in the forest ( e.g. lem.to/p/tFL3 ) but they don't really mesh and there are other parts that are kind of samey.
...Uh. I may be overly obsessed with the scenery of Ur. >_> Xiri also has a point! But I do feel that having a subtly different and cohesive "look and feel" for each region is part of what makes regions cool, and Vantalu is kind of all over the place.
I'd love to see new regions not just have different terrain/vegetation/climates, but be done in completely new art styles. One of the things I love about the Glitch world is that some regions (Ix, Uralia, etc.) are a vast departure from the rest of the world.
Totally in agreement here. While the coin-jumping areas are all lovely, you just can't compare cool imaginative designs of Ix/Uralia/Ilmenskie with the highlands (at least the beach on Firozi was a nice departure)
I agree with Myrrah that the caves are really beautiful, I think its a shame that these didn't take up more of the region. In general, it is very samey and I think we could do without more of these regions, there are so many of them already!
IDK, while I enjoy Ix's style I tend to think of it as a glorified seam street just because it is so different. I like that most of the world feels cohesive even across regions as different as, say, Tahli and Groddle Forest.
But I would enjoy some stronger departures -- more blue caves, definitely. We have different kinds of forest in Groddle/quoin forest/continent, but a jungle/rainforest would be cool. Maybe a brighter, more tropical underwater. And a proper sandy beach with palm trees!
I threw that out there because I think it will be the "purpose" and "difference" people in here are hoping for. I don't disagree with you folks -- I posted something similar a few weeks ago about those regions. But it seems they stage their releases, and regions release before the purpose for those regions release more often than releasing both together. They have done both together (fox and sloth release comes to mind), but not lately.
But yeah, I would love to see some wildly different art styles. Or even something like the art from Autumn Day extended to a whole region.
I do feel that Firozi, Ormonos and Lida were very similar to previous regions in look and feel. But give it time. We've already seen a few things to come, such as an icy hub and some area that looks to be similar to GoC. I'm fairly certain that sooner rather than later we will have new animals and resources to muck around with.
Also, I find Vantalu to be a breath of fresh air. We get a closer look at the icy mountains north of Aranna, which I'm sure we'll visit soon. The caves there are amazing, like Polokoo and Callopee reborn. We just need to give it time.
I think it would be so incredibly hard to make each region unique and different remembering they can consist of up to 25 streets. I also think there isn't much variation because it would look odd with the rest and and that is why I think T.S go so very different and bold with the islands hence the reason the map they're called "miscellaneous islands".
As an artist, I can also speak to workflow, here. The regions that are similar in look require less real hours to create. They're a way of punting. So, TS can pick their battles, releasing similar looking regions when they need to focus on something else, and save the really different and spectacular stuff for when they have the opportunity to make it.
It allows them to put more energy into generating singularly spectacular art, as well. If they spread those hours out evenly between all the regions, they'd all be a lot less polished or inspired. This way, their best stuff is mind blowing, and their less than best stuff is based on their best.
Oh, I'm not complaining :) Just while we're wishing, those are some of mine.
Vantalu does feel a little disjointed, is my main point. Lots of cool bits, no particular overarching theme. Hasn't stopped me from exploring it aaaaaaaallllll >:3
2. There will continually be new areas which are similar to existing areas (just as, in the past, there have been areas that are similar to one another). If you know that this will cause you disappointment or frustration, just don't go exploring them right away — let some others go first and see what they report. Then you can avoid any places you don't want to visit.
In case it was unclear before, I don't have a problem with similar geography across regions. That is a necessity by virtue of Ur's size, and each region is unique enough to be distinguishable despite the commonalities it may share with another region. I don't find that boring or frustrating, either.
Rather, what bothers me is that I have no cause to go to Vantalu except for two reasons: to get my completionist badge, and to access the first street of the adjacent new region. Upon reaching that first street I thus unlock the ability to teleport directly into Nottis any time I want. And I will, 'cause I need ice and Nottis is the only place to get it. Vantalu is rendered irrelevant. This is the problem: irrelevance.
I know that there are (and will be) plenty of players who cannot teleport with ease or frequency, and they will have to walk to Nottis (or be summoned, or follow a teleporter) any time they want to go there. There always will be - but again, not really my point.
The point is, Vantalu doesn't offer anything different except access to Nottis or Choru. Pigs, chickens, bubble trees... had all of that before. I would simply like to see unique resources in these top end areas (like Besara, Aranna, and so on) that are not accessible in lower areas like Groddle, Alakol, or the Foxlands. Like I said earlier, I'm sure these things will eventually come - been around enough developing games to know that. (Plus, we've already seen it in Jal and Nottis.) It's just that until they do, Vantalu is not a desirable place to go once the shine of "oooh new region!" wears off. :<
Pretty much every region needs something specific to walk to if people are gonna be inspired to walk through it (that, or higher concentrations of things you'd get anywhere, like fewer tree types but waaaay more of 1-2 tree types).
This was a problem with dead ends, though the visiting stones removed some of their deadendishness.
We've got a ton of new area now, it might be fun to add some things into areas we've already seen. And not like a ton of things, maybe just a few per region. Like a few more item spawns, even if the spawned item happens to do nothing :D
Oh, that is a "more awesome" idea, Moehr Ossum!!! Really, awesome idea. Like a certain animal that is special to that zone, or only one type of herb, a new type of fruit on a tree, etc. that will be needed in the new food recipes.
The other thing that would be fun to see is skills (or recipes in a skillset) that are regional or streetgional. Like, you have to be on a street that has batterflies in order to mix batter.