New Element - Park - Seas of Antiquity

MrTycoonCoaster Fan Offline

Very cool, liked the details, paths and colors of the entrance
the ceiling fan stayed 10, this one really loved it
The houses and buildings perfect for me, the towers gave a special touch
Palace in attraction THE FLOOD very beautiful
I liked the details around the carousel, it was different
I loved the colors of the roofs and the way they built
Support, from the roller coaster with pipe use was 10
Good imagination pyramid, good details
Have you made a heart out of ATLATL? hehe it was nice
I love attractions that involve water
General really nice park

shnupz Fan Offline

Farewell! You certainly went out with a bang. I learned so much building with you, and watching the park evolve over the time I got to see it behind the scenes was incredibly eye opening, and I had a great time.

The end result is consistently fantastic all round and a prime example of how the meta is not objectively good. Having not been around NE during the early 2000's wave of IoA parks (I think I first lurked here around 2007? Possibly 2006), I feel like even without any personal nostalgia for the style you channeled here I can safely say that this stands strong as one of my favourite releases in a long while, and certainly my favourite hahhe release (biased, I know. My favourite which I had no part in is Blefuscu, which is perhaps quite a controversial opinion).

Hopefully, if all goes well, this and with releases like Veteris and Metropolis, along with a recent resurgence in interest for avante-garde parkmaking can help break the current meta out of its stale, yet ultimately peaked state we've come to see in the past year.

Grona Lund, Riverland, and basically everything in H2H8 have shown that this community has in my mind, reached a point with this game that just can't really be outdone. The quality over 2017 and 2018 has been absolutely insane, but because of that I've found that ironically I'm appreciating these parks less since they are not as unique and innovative as DAW, Le Reve, Lenox or Mont Saint Michel were upon their release, simply due to the flood of other incredible parks surrounding them. It was this same reason, I think, that caused me to really not get the point of Coors or Blue Oak. You've shown that there is still room for us as a community to grow and evolve, and as somebody still struggling to find my footing both in the community and as a builder, thank you, because this park has made me realise how much I kept trying to build for the site, rather than building for me.

As for the actual park, the standouts for me for:
-The East African(?) waterfront opposite of the South American isle
-The B&M invert is just hnnnnng. Love the colours and the layout and the interaction. Also love the nearby urban architecture
- The Intamin woody. Lovely layout. It feels considerably more realistic than the rest of the park, but I think this works great, makes this whole thing not about black and white fantasy or realism, its just good.
- Komodo and all of the Indonesian area

I also absolutely love what you did with the splash boats layout. You captured what I was trying to build and failed perfectly. The nearby Moorish/Berber architecture is also rather beautiful.

Does this deserve a spotlight? The little sign over by Raging Spirit seems to say you don't think so. Perhaps it would defeat the point of this whole thing. This doesn't feel like what I imagine when somebody says "spotlight park". Where's the parking lot? A 1989 Arrow with a sea serpent roll, really? And those supports! How clunky! Such blocky architecture! Why didn't you use diagonals? Ugh, that Flying Dutchman layout is just offensively unrealistic, what's the point? Why is it and so many other rides missing manufacturer and year tags? Why is the map a square? It's 2018 Zach you're wasting a bunch of space that accomplishes nothing around those rice paddies and doesn't add to the park at all. Those old waterfalls were so much better. Why did you rebuild so much of the map, it used to look way better.

And you know what? The fact that these thoughts came to mind as I looked at this park- that I could see all of its "flaws" in an instant -has made me realise how fucking warped my thinking has become by involving myself in this community now, during this revival of activity in the last 2 years. I think SoA is better for having all of these things, not because they are counter-meta, but because they simply make the park genuine and honest, not made for the purpose of winning, but for the purpose of expression. And quite frankly, it just looks and feels great and doesn't need to change in any way.

As a side note, my criticisms on the the meta and site's atmosphere aren't meant to be offensive to anybody, and imo aren't the result of anybody doing anything wrong. I see rct as an art medium, and like all forms of art it has its movements and counter-culture, and over time tends to shift in different directions.

Gustav Goblin Offline

Great work! Komodo and The Flood are the highlights of the park for me. Even if they're not realistic, the way they interact with their surroundings is amazing. While I wouldn't call this spotlight quality, I can't deny this is some fine RCT and a bang to go out on. Wishing you a fulfilling retirement!

Fisch Offline

Great job on finishing another super nice park so quickly!!

This one is obviously intended to break the meta and you really did achieve that. The park totally looks like a legendary park from around 2005. Lots of coasters, lots of themes, lots of great attention to the individual coasters.

Something I'm less fond of is how the areas or rather the islands look in their whole appearances though. While I think the coasters themselves are all super well themed, the transitions kind of get lost for me. The areas feel very vague in a way, the way that they're laid out. That said, this again seems to be part of the meta breaking concept you were going for here.

I agree with the people that said that the Flood is a great waterride. The main drop is placed beautifully. Very well done. The coaster layouts were all very good in general, they're definitely one of the strongest points of this.

I think it's a deserving end to your current reign as most active parkmaker. 3 fully finished large scale parks in such a short amount of time. How? All are different in terms of the scenery you used etc. I think the shotguns style is still visible in all of them though.

I can't say that this is my favorite out of them sadly, but it definitely feels like another park where you set out a concept and then stuck to it. That's awesome about your parks.

Are you really leaving? From the outside I think it'd still come at a surprise, even if you've hinted at it. Well done and see you around again soon!

Faas Offline

There were some awesome elements in this park. I liked how you made interaction between different elements the most important aspect, resulting in some cool scenes.

I had a hard time enjoying the park overall though, and looking through it was frustrating.

Parts were unfinished, most coasters didn't work and couldn't be fixed, and more than half of the park was peepless. Also some parts of rides were invisible?

SSSammy Online

one of my fav pieces of rct in a very very long time. i love how unfinished it felt. it feels very stripped back.

shnupz Fan Offline

Parts were unfinished, most coasters didn't work and couldn't be fixed, and more than half of the park was peepless. Also some parts of rides were invisible?

I don't know about the unfinished thing, it looked done to me. But the rest? Update your game Faas, it sounds like an issue with whatever build you're on. I didn't notice any of those issues. The peeps were evenly dispersed, the rides worked perfectly fine and there was absolutely no invisible ride stuff going on.

RWE Offline

So, here we are now. I finished my viewing experience and i must say i had quite a journey at this park. In the end i'm not sure how to exaclty value this experience, but i will nevertheless review this thing now. When first opening the park the old school feeling really got me and it felt like i was going through the database, looking for inspiration and finding this park and now opening it. You managed very well to created a park, that felt like it has been built ages ago, but - and that's a very important point for me - the composition and way the different elements of the park are working together feels pretty modern to me. This was a very refreshing experience remembering your glitchy overdetailed work from some time ago and i liked from the beginning you're going for something like this now.

Looking more carefully at the different elements of the park, i felt some confusion inside me. Things were glitching into eachother, some stuff just wasn't working, object choices felt incredibly out of place. I was not sure if that was your artistical choice, but then again i know and learned that you are an artist who like his work to speak for itself, so in the end i decided myself that these things were on purpose. But then again, i couldn't get rid off the confusion at some places, since it felt like you have been always on the line in this park between making things ugly too obvious and making things ugly in a more implicit way. In the end i thing i would have loved seeing you going a bit more into the implicit direction to not only show your talent in terms of composition and your skill in terms of highligting elements and creating interaction, but also show your ability to create beautiful and wonderful things we can adore as itself without needing to look at the bigger picture and how they are working together with other stuff.

I will not go in detail about the technical way things are done in this review, since we all know you are probably one of the best builders around when it comes to technical execution of things, but i do like, that you gave yourself boundaries with this park and that you tried to create something that not only relies on making things beaiful with technical skill. In the end i think this is a solid gold for me and i wanna thank you for the experience that i had in this park, probablay going to come back to it sometimes to steal some of the composition choices and use them in my more mundane work.

All in all it's also sad to see you wanna leave the community for some time, although we all know it's sometimes a good thing to take a break. I know we not only had good times together and we maybe haven't appreciated each otherhow we should have, but you are definitely part of NE and i think i would miss something at NE when you are gone. In the end i wish you all the best and, although it might take a bit until we can enjoy it again, looking forward to see you building again!

Cocoa Offline

I will be genuinely sad to see you go/ stop playing but you've been saying it for a while, and it could be good for you. I won't pretend to know whats up in your life, just hope you do something that makes you happy.

As for the park- there's a lot of really beautiful stuff in it. The whole thing is layed out sort of funny and feels very classic shogo, but there are small scenes and rides that are really astoundingly atmospheric and work so well. The flume is one of the best I've ever seen- a truly beautiful composition. The water coaster too is phenomenal. Most of the bali area and the weird pseudo native american colonial area are pretty great- especially that row of asian buildings near the flying dutchman's entrance. The whole asian island is probably layed out the best in terms of interaction and general vibes, but I really loved the orange intamin and how it spread out over that area. Overall theres a lot of buildings that sort of felt like different colored reskins of each other, especially in the african island and south american island- although I really loved the coaster station and pink "illinois smith" building in africa.

I'll give it a think about spotlight, but the answer is probably 'yes'. Although its clearly got unfinished bits and a lot of weirdness, we don't get so many high quality rct2 solos. I think this one is good enough to fit the bill.

congrats on a third solo, you've definitely made a big impact on this community and it always saddens me when it shrinks a bit because we can't just get along nicely or (even worse ) because we grow out of it in our personal lives. This place has been in my life since I was 12 which is practically the beginning of being a real person- not sure what I would spend my time on otherwise! Ah I'm getting nostalgic.

when are we gonna have that "class of 20_ _" competition where anyone who joined NE in the year __ is on a team together?

posix Offline

shotguns?, thank you for executing what I myself can only annoyingly preach. This park is a wonderful contemporary synthesis of your influences under the modelling meta, and the desire I've always felt you held for RCT's innate beauty, that's just waiting to be found and brought to life. Latter is what's always been the most fascinating aspect about the game to me, and much to my chagrin recent player generations haven't shown big interest in it.

It's so amazing to me how this message is so clear from this park, when you read replies like shnupz's. I constantly worry how the modelling meta wears people out and just makes them unhappy. It also really frustrates me when parks are criticised for their lack of "correctness". It's too strange how the majority of us seem to need to "overcome" the site's expectations, before they can build more for themselves. I remember my NSpheres park.

I knew from the very first screen you posted that you were one of the biggest talents in years, and I was even more excited when among them, you were the one most interested and receptible to macro qualities and purely artistic expression, like RoB defined them for RCT2. It's been an absolute treat to experience your development as a player since, and the beautiful RCT creations you've produced along the way. I'm sad that a lot of people don't seem to appreciate them as much because of the interpersonal. I know you know you're not totally innocent here, but I've never witnessed it myself, and so have always held great regard for you. Even more so later, as we began to exchange, and I was so impressed by your pairing of immense intelligence and self-honesty.

As for the park itself, its forte for me is its beauty. There's a lot of taste here combined with a truly working and talented macro sense. The colour and object combinations you chose are fitting and nice to look at, and your foliage, although very multi-faceted, is harmonic, elegant and warm. The architecture is inviting, and the ability to discover little shops inside with names to tell a story to me is much more stimulating to look at than excessively detailed interiors meant to look "perfect". I do feel it's visible how you were tired of RCT around some edges. There's a lack of technical polish and finishing touches, which I have empathy for however.

And then there's the minetrain. I've told you about my admiration for it many times. I don't think I've felt so strongly for something since RoB. There is a sublime quality here that's hard for me to put into words. I just adore how the pond is surrounded by path, how the ride interacts, how there are so many clever layers of track height, how the landscaping and foliage are so organic and beautiful to look at.... This is what I hope RCT to be like.

My only criticism aesthetically would be that there's an overtone of light colour dominance. Everything feels a bit too pastel and washed out, and I much miss darker browns and more saturated dark greens, which at least you have in the central island area a little bit. The criticism how some of the park's layout was confusing is in fact not entirely untrue, as I've found myself mostly unable to take in everything that's behind the minetrain. And I agree that a too island-focused layout is usually problematic, as it quickly evokes a disjunct nature and lack of park coherence.

I only voice these concerns because I think you will be interested. Really, this park is a celebration and much much needed direction. Thank you shotguns?, get well, do reach out if you want to, and all the best to you.

Steve Offline

Well done, Zach. Truly, you are a much needed light in this community with your ethic and ability to create some excellent work. Despite whatever bullshit goes along with you: who cares. I don’t mean to take whatever issues you have lightly, but I find your presence enjoyable for the most part. I hope you decide to stick around. I can’t be the only insane one on the Discord (cocoa needs to step it up).

I’ve only taken a brief look at the park but honestly, I’ve only needed that brief look to fully agree with posix (who could’ve guessed?). This is something special, regardless of its flaws. With that, I am shocked this is already up for an accolade decision. Can you nimrods please take your time with this? I say this not out of spite or jealousy of Zach’s tremendous ability but because with parks like these, we need to devote the time to fully appreciate the weight they hold. I’m guilty of voting on impulse or simply not voting at all and that’s fine too, but give this some time. It deserves it.

G Force Offline

I think the only problem I really have with the park is how sloppy a lot of it is, I know you probably couldn't care less but its annoying to see someone spend so much time on it and then get lazy and just leave bits unfinished or objects placed incorrectly.

Its hard for me to stay completely immersed in the park when I constantly notice these issues. Probably the only thing that's really holding the park back for me from being an all time great.

GammaZero Offline

This park is awesome. I loved all the refreshing texture/layout/compositional choices.

I don't wanna review this park.

I don't wanna give it an artificial rating either.

baller-ass shit%

EDIT: shnupz you need to finish something

Six Frags Offline

I felt this park overall looks too bare and the underdetailing makes it look kinda unfinished. I see it's the style you wanted to achieve, but in this case some buildings in relation to others almost look like you rushed them, with those bare 1h walls stacked on each other and other buildings full with detail. It just contradicts too much I felt.

Also those LotR rocks look so out of place. They are tricky objects: They can really add to the atmosphere (like Pac often shows) but here it just sticks out and make them look like objects that just don't belong in RCT2. What's wrong with just regular 1/4 tile rock objects instead? I think it could've achieved the same effect you wanted to display, but would make for a nicer blend with the regular landscape.

The coasters were my favorite part of the park. Some small issues here and there though, like I felt Quicksilver was wandering a bit too much, and the ending of Wildebeest was a bit awkward with the corkscrew right before the brake run. Also didn't really like the first drop on Wyvern, with the banked downward turn before the first drop; Kinda takes the excitement of the first drop away imo.

Not sure why you went with the old support system? If you want to create an oldskool kinda look, why not go all the way with NCSO? Now you have some new style architecture all over the place and then those in my opinion not so good looking supports.

What's up with that underground walkway btw? Almost looks like poor park planning to me. Some stalls also didn't have actual paths leading to them so peeps can't buy anything (the balloons stalls and the coke stand). It all feels a bit rushed to me.

Props on getting a large scale park out, maybe it was better to have it smaller scale and really make it look polished and that it's all working and functional. I'd rate it 65-70%

Julow Fan Offline

Opened the park for the first time 30 minutes ago. I just love it.

To be honest I thought I was going to dislike it in the same way I didn't like Coors but this is something totally different ! I wouldn't say this is unfinished, content is here and it's mostly a call for your own imagination.

Truly magical. Damn I love it so much, sorry for repeating myself. I love how it's light but very advanced at the same time. I would say this shows the true power of composition of forms and colors.

Didn't read the big reviews above this one, but I'm sure there's a lot of interesting things to read that I'm probably missing for the moment. Will maybe update my review later.

PS: completely a fan of the red inverted coaster. could watch it for hours.

RCT2day Offline

Our NCSO rivalry will always be one of the main reasons I found so much joy in this game. Congratulations on an excellent career. You've cemented your name in RCT history.

Will edit later with a review.

SSSammy Online

i keep opening this and it gets better every time. its just so fucking good

AvanineCommuter Fan Offline

This is special.

More in depth review soon.

Cocoa Offline

the entrance plaza is absolutely phenomenal, can't remember if i said that last time

Park / Seas of Antiquity

30 Comments

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G Force	90%	yes
posix	90%	yes
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Cocoa	80%	no
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Steve	80%	no
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Faas	70%	no
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