RobDedede

• Offline
• United States

• Accolade Panelist

Awesome release, man. So inspiring to see such great NCSO content. Loved the layout, and the park infrastructure + architecture were top-notch. I also loved the landscaping. You are one of the few people who can pull off true "semi-realism" with full NCSO, and it's cool to see.

Agreed with TimmyTuner. The rides were fun, if a bit fast on some of them. My favorite ride was definitely the log flume, which had some great theming and a classic double drop. Nice work!

Best coaster of the season.

This map was very much like a stream of consciousness, and like SSSammy said, it was rather fun to poke around it. The entrance area/gate was probably my favorite part of the map. It was pretty cleanly executed, and the gardens were nice. My favorite ride to watch was definitely the big old yellow mine train coaster.

Okay, so like I said in my initial review, I do like this park. It has a nice, classic feel to it. Generally I like the theme of each area, though a small nitpick is I felt the Vinland area presents a cursory knowledge of indigenous American history - tipis were only primarily used on the great plains. That said, it was a cool area, especially with the Viking influence, and the tipis did not influence my score.

I went back and forth on my vote. On the one hand, here we have a classic four corners map with a central lake. The areas are well-themed for the most part. The ride design, frankly, was solid but did not stand out to me, with each anchor attraction feeling around 75% quality in terms of uniqueness, area integration, and theming, with a few exceptions like how the wooden coaster (Gilgamesh) worked itself into the Babylon area. That was awesome!!

My vote ultimately came down to how I weighed technical execution with map composition. For me the park was not consistently of spotlight quality in terms of its technical execution. It had flashes of brilliance, like the aforementioned Gilgamesh area and some of the facades of the dark ride, but many parts of the park felt solidly in the 70-75% range in terms of quality. However, I still had to weigh that against the fact that this park is a well-made, full park, which almost pushed me to 80%.

The reason I did not ultimately make the push to 80% on this park is because the macro was very safe, and, at least for me, did not demonstrate the requisite complexity and finesse of a spotlight. That is to say, each area is very much on its own and isolated in each corner. It would be easy to photoshop each area and make it a seperate mini map totally on its own. For me, when a park is wavering between high 70%s and low 80%s in terms of technical execution, and at the same time does not demonstrate some of the more complex macro techniques that we often see, like area blending, transition areas, advanced park infrastructure, double-area ride integration, and immersive landscaping, I just barely didn't vote 80%.

For that reason, I landed on a vote of 75%/no. Trust me when I say I took my time with the decision, and I had to ignore my strong personal liking of your character, Fred, and the understanding that you have poured so much into the park. At the end of the day, however, it's my job as a panelist to reflect an accurate score for the interest of integrity and fairness to all the other parkmakers. With that said, I am sure I'll be on the lower end of the vote, anyway, and that you'll get a great score. Regardless of how it scores, this park is a great achievement and was very enjoyable!

To reiterate, my favorite area was absolutely Babylon! That shit was awesome!