H2H5 / [H2H5] Round Robin | Round 1 | Match 1

Art of War:

Highs:

*The hacking was basically seamless and always with purpose. The trebuchet's launching the riders and the planes dropping bombs nearly won my vote by themselves.
*The transition from area to area was strangely pretty clean, given how different each them was. The landing craft going into the "D Day" beach out of the "Naval" warfare's lake was just fantastic.
* Lots of ideas... The spiral staircases in the star wars (a term I'm using loosely here) area, what I think was an anvil in the tents outside the castle, etc.

Lows:

*The theming lacked refinement outside of a few of the sculptures and building and largely seemed like it was there simply to create some context for the hacks and ideas.
*Each area, just because it was so small, really failed to develop it's own atmosphere, and because they were all so contrasting in era they didn't share enough to really bring it all together... This really wounded this park really.

Verdict:

As much as I want to start up the trend of fantasy parks dominating "realistic" ones in h2h again, this one doesn't grab me enough with the theme to make up for the underdeveloped atmosphere and theming. It was good but it's weakness was precisely the World Showcase's greatest strengths; and the things I guess I care about more than anything else.

The World Showcase:

Highs:
*Atmosphere! Atmosphere! Atmosphere! The "French" corner, UK Corner, and similar really won me. The atmosphere was the type that's just real enough, just gritty enough, and yet just that little be better than reality. That extra sparkle and shine... Really something.
*Coasters: Like it or not this is Roller Coaster Tycoon and when you've got a decent inverted coaster vs. no coaster at all it's pretty easy to see who the winner is. The Virgina reel, while incredibly well themed, seemed rather tossed in and the same goes for the rocket in the back corner... But still the invert more than makes up for those slight (and only slight) missteps.

Lows:
None really. The park was very refined and did everything that it tried to do very very well... I suppose it's greatest weakness comes from it's overall lack of originality in theme. But fuck it. Everything was pulled off SO well that it overcomes that handicap any day of the week.

Neutral:
Good show, but those things are still annoying as fuck in my opinion... Just having to sit around and hold in the "backspace" key for a couple minutes before I can enjoy the park... It's silly. But I will admit that this one was really good. At least it was worth the time.

Verdict:

Hurricanes win this round. And they deserve to. They built a better, more refined, more atmospheric park with better coasters; when it comes down to it the better park wins.

Ride6

To the management, can you guys add a null vote option for those of us without both games and/or choosing not to vote? I'd like to see how the votes are going.

I agree that it's necessary for you guys to be able to see the results, but at the same time, it's also very necessary for us to have votes. If we allowed null voting, many people would shit on entering the codes and just null vote. Instead, we want to make them install the games. This season will go on until June, so you should really consider to install them, if you want to participate in this contest as a voter in any way.

I think the vote code is great,and its not as if it takes much effort on our part

No, it's really not. Posix and geewhzz have such a stranglehold on this project of their's and are taking things a bit too far in order to make sure it works all season or whatever. I realize you guys want to make this succeed but there are some things you can't help. Putting these codes in each park and making them unique for each member? It's not necessary. I spent half an hour trying to get this god forsaken game to work to look at two mediocre parks so I could write down some little code in order to vote. It's ridiculous.

I'm more concerned with the modern voting base, frankly. You're all weird.

No, it's really not. Posix and geewhzz have such a stranglehold on this project of their's and are taking things a bit too far in order to make sure it works all season or whatever. I realize you guys want to make this succeed but there are some things you can't help. Putting these codes in each park and making them unique for each member? It's not necessary. I spent half an hour trying to get this god forsaken game to work to look at two mediocre parks so I could write down some little code in order to vote. It's ridiculous.

Just stick your head back in the sand.

I think it's amazing that the voting works the way it does. Major, major kudos to that!

I'm not one to really stress 'fairness' in these contests, I'm all in for fun, looking at the parks, voting, discussing, but the end result isn't a big deal to me. I can even really be true to this opinion since I'm not participating and everything. What you must realise, however, is that there are a lot of people on this board that take this competition quite seriously. I'm not really pro-their-opinion, but to each their own. For those people, it's important that the voting goes as fair as possible.

If copying two little codes from a game to a browser window takes you a half hour i wish you good luck with the rest of life.

Phil and Curtis went through a lot of trouble here people. You don't have to go through a lot of trouble. Just enjoy the ride.

see tracid, you installed the games and you voted AFTER having looked at the parks. and who is to say you'll find all of the upcoming parks merely "mediocre"? i am 100% convinced the codes are very very important because i think a contest can only be fun when it is fair. that's what we're trying to achieve.

see tracid, you installed the games and you voted AFTER having looked at the parks. and who is to say you'll find all of the upcoming parks merely "mediocre"? i am 100% convinced the codes are very very important because i think a contest can only be fun when it is fair. that's what we're trying to achieve.

Agreed

It's a bit of a hoop to jump through.... but I like the fact this gives LL a proper leg up in the competition. I'd still make an LL park and screw the outcome if this a previous season but I like how this will make my park more competitive.... well... at least before I saw this match ><

And Jon.... it's always a member I respect in the community who makes me say this and I mean no offense, but here goes..... you can bold, underline, highlight, increase the size of or do whatever to certain words in the title of this game but it doesn't change the fact that it has become something more than what originally intended; a medium for people to express themselves coasters or no coasters

you can bold, underline, highlight, increase the size of or do whatever to certain words in the title of this game but it doesn't change the fact that it has become something more than what originally intended; a medium for people to express themselves coasters or no coasters

If I were one to sig someone, it would be this! Well said.

That may be true Milo, but you're acting like a baby because you're losing when the contest is about pleasing the most people to win the most votes. So if people prefer more realistic based parks because of the premise of the game, well, then, your strategy to try and win is pretty flawed now, isn't it?

um gee.... I've stated several times that I don't really care about winning this... it's about parks and having fun building them... I'll be a little passionate at times but hey, who isn't

but w/e... you'll always seem to enjoy attacking me and my opinions... really though, why get so personal? If I were being a baby I'd leave or something.

imo that comment was really out of line, I've tried to be respectful in my arguments. Can't you at least do the same?

Milo, I would have to agree with you there. For some RCT is an art form, other's its a way of expressing themselves, and some it's just about having fun.

That's what's great about the game, it's all about doing something you want and like and then sharing it with others whether or not they like it.

^exactly

gee, if all you've gotten out of my posts is that I'm crying because we're losing and the other team is winning or that the above statement is my "H2H strategy".... well.... I don't really know what to say to that. Read them them a little more carefully I guess because I thought I made it clear. Or don't read it? But don't be so insulting when it doesn't call for it, either

And Jon.... it's always a member I respect in the community who makes me say this and I mean no offense, but here goes..... you can bold, underline, highlight, increase the size of or do whatever to certain words in the title of this game but it doesn't change the fact that it has become something more than what originally intended; a medium for people to express themselves coasters or no coasters

I agree... But it doesn't change the fact that I like coasters. It was also the atmosphere of World Showcase that won me to it more than anything else. Other than the invert the coasters had no real effect on my vote; if anything the other two detracted from the park some in my opinion. I'm just saying that I might be the only one but I like to imagine coasters everywhere in the real world, so seeing a world created for the purpose of constructing said rides not having them seems like the most horrible waste to me. It's a purely subjective argument anyway.

No hard feelings.

Ride6

Just stick your head back in the sand.

I think it's amazing that the voting works the way it does. Major, major kudos to that!

I'm not one to really stress 'fairness' in these contests, I'm all in for fun, looking at the parks, voting, discussing, but the end result isn't a big deal to me. I can even really be true to this opinion since I'm not participating and everything. What you must realise, however, is that there are a lot of people on this board that take this competition quite seriously. I'm not really pro-their-opinion, but to each their own. For those people, it's important that the voting goes as fair as possible.

If copying two little codes from a game to a browser window takes you a half hour i wish you good luck with the rest of life.

Phil and Curtis went through a lot of trouble here people. You don't have to go through a lot of trouble. Just enjoy the ride.

welp, k.

see tracid, you installed the games and you voted AFTER having looked at the parks. and who is to say you'll find all of the upcoming parks merely "mediocre"? i am 100% convinced the codes are very very important because i think a contest can only be fun when it is fair. that's what we're trying to achieve.

I completely understand what you're saying and I applaude you for sticking with it, it just all seems a little superfluous to me.

This was a really tough one for me to decide on as I loved both parks in different ways.

Art of War - As has been mentioned previously, the hacks in this park are fantastic and really add to the feeling the builders were going for. The planes carrying bombs, the trebuchet and the cannons firing between the ships really impressed me. Major plus for making it peepable (same for the Hurricanes park too). The only thing that stopped me from giving this the vote was the lack of a coaster. All the ideas in it were brilliant but I missed being able to watch a coaster zip around the map. Really nice job on this park though guys, I thoroughly enjoyed viewing it.

World Showcase - The atmosphere is what really got me with this one. Each of the areas really served there purpose although some were better at it than others. I enjoyed viewing the Illuminations show at the start it reminded me of the one in Nate's old Disney park. On repeat viewings however it did get a little annoying so maybe including a version without it may have been a good idea. A couple of the coasters were a little bit too small and seemed a little pointless (the launched coaster and the virginia reel) but I really liked the invert. The surroundings of it really added to the experience. The map seemed a little cramped as there was so much on it but it wasn't that big of an issue.

It was a really tough choice but in the end I went with the Hurricanes. I'm really excited to see what both teams can come up with in the later rounds and well done for getting both parks complete.

Figured I should give my view on both parks. Finally got the urge to write it out.

Art of War - A pretty cool park. If this park were put up against another more 'fantasy' style park it could have easily won my vote, but because it wasn't, I just couldn't justify voting for it. As other people have said, we play RCT because of our love for coasters in real life. This is why I come to the site, I want to see coasters that remind me of my passion for them in real life. This park didn't spark that interest at all.

There were plenty of cool ideas that were well executed. The variation of time periods was cool. The space fight was pretty neat as well as the chessboard. I was a big fan of the many little things like the Couriers and the tents made out of those steep castle blocks. The working trebuchets were pretty cool and how you made the entrance for some of the rides in alternate locations. I also liked the large war ships fighting a battle at sea. The crashed plane was a neat touch too.

Overall, yeah, it was all pretty cool, but like I said earlier, It's not as appealing to me to view this type of park over a realistic one.

World Showcase - I liked the show at the beginning, very cool and well done. I am not familiar with the real thing, but I can trust ][ntamin22 that it is probably pretty accurate. The park had pretty awesome theming and it just felt nice. My biggest gripe about this park was the coasters. They were all pretty awful. There is just no attention to detail when it comes to the coasters, and that's my biggest issue. The thrown in rocket was just awful. The invert, while it had a fairly decent compact layout, again, it fell short on the details. The lift hill is just floating there, it has one support under the catwalk and that's it. One support....it just drives me nuts, and from RRP's post, this is something I do look for in someone's work to tell if it's good. Long portions of the track just go unsupported, too. If you look at any of my work, there is attention to every support and every inch of track of a ride. You might argue, "well we wanted to use more scenery slots for theming pieces" and yeah, I might be able to buy that, as I said earlier, the theming is very very good. It's just a personal preference of mine.

There were a lot of great little touches in the park that have been pointed out numerous times in this thread already. Some of my favorites were
* Frozen Staff
* The stage area was pulled off nicely
* The parade
* All the shops and carts along the midways, it really helped bring it to life.
* EiFall Tower

Overall, well done for the time period you had to build.

Vote = Hurricanes.

This was not close for me at all, since I have this personal distain for parks like Art of War with just a million different things going on that just make me want to say "fuck it" because it just gives me a headache. So much going on, but whatever. I really admire what went into it. Out of the entire clusterfuck I found a few ideas that made my mouth drop such as the planes actually dropping bombs and the space fight was pulled off well. Everything else though just did not appeal to me. Its impressive, but that is it. It is not attractive and its not particularly well done (besides the hacking/ideas/whatever). Still, well done on getting that park done, it looks like it was a bitch to build and I have the utmost respect for it. Just not my thing. I think my vote is obvious now, but it seems like a more logical vote to me anyway. It was beautiful in most areas, which equally beautiful architecture and overall just more appealing than Art of War. Though the Norway/England countries left something to be desired.

When will we know who made these parks? Just curious...