H2H8 / H2H8 Round 5 Match 3 - The Replacements vs The Icons

the problem is not with the Replacements, its the matchfixing. I was honestly looking foward to this matchup as both teams had a huge role in the final outcome of the round, thus this round was supossed to bring huge parks to the table.

 Oh, I know. I just don't want anything to make it look as if it were a multi-team deal. We've already had our fair share of controversial matches.

That's incredibly childish. I get that you're mad and yeah you have the right to be fucking pissed right now but that doesn't mean that this park isn't worth checking out. Its a good damn park just look at it and enjoy it for what it is

 
This. So much this. Don't fuck over the entire Icons team over a decision one person made. People put a lot of effort into this park, it deserves reviews regardless of how you feel about Louis or the outcome of round robin.

 

 

Many of my teammates have become some of my best friends and I hope that other teams have the sort of chemistry that we do. It's that sort of chemistry that makes me love this community, and it's such a shame that it's currently fizzled out. I hope that we are able to bounce back as a community like we've always done, and I hope to have a great rest of the season.

 

I can confirm that Team Spacecrab has got great chemistry as well. Made a ton of friends this competition, glad to have gotten the opportunity to build with my team, and learn as much as I have.


Now, about the parks. Opened both this morning for about 5 minutes each. Both parks are great, but I love the Icons a ton. The readme in particular (not Lew's letter, the other readme) was just so good. Intentional or not, I felt the whole thing fit very well as an allegory for the Icons' season and H2H8 as a whole. Full reviews will follow when I get some time to open the parks for more than 5 minutes.

Right, few final words to say from me, then I'm out, not that anyone should care about that!

Louis is my closest friend in this community. He may not help much with the behind the scenes admin work, but as a people person, he has done more for this site than any single person in the entire 16 years I've been here.

He wanted to leave with genuinely good intentions from what I could see, to let Replacements go through, with the thought process that Spacecrabs vs UltraRealists will play it's self out.

For me, this competition has shown me very blatantly the worst side of this community. The constant, incessant bitching; people fully disregarding other's work; waking up every other day to an argument somewhere that leads to name calling and just a lack of respect across the community.

As I made clear throughout the contest, I wanted everyone to have fun. That was my primary focus. I've now realised that was stupid focus, as people in this community are far too egocentric to just revel in the fantastic RCT we saw every week and just want to instead make it clear how much better they are at a stupid 20 year old game than everyone else.

I'm sure you'll all sit there and wash your hands of it, but a certain set of people ruined this contest long before any Icons did. Those people know who they are, and even everyone else in the community will know exactly who I'm referring to, cos I've seen you all fuckin bitch about them.

Anyway, I'm sure NE will fix it's self after this contest, but all I recommend for the future, is to keep the community as separate from Discord as possible.

The king is dead, long live the king.

Peace out NE

Not to let the discraceful attitude of one team taint the Replacements park. A Far Cry From Home is really good park. The flyer Omani is one of my favourite coasters of the tournament so far. The Banana Roll style inversion is really well done and something I would like to see in real life. 

 

Zheng He is also really strong and i love the waterfalls around it. The section between the barrel roll and the block brakes feels a little forced but the layout otherwise is strong. Love the cable car passing through the loop that would such a cool view in real life.

 

Certainly 2 of the better coasters this contest.

 

The silk road concept in itself is a nice idea and something thats being done in China right now although your coasters are somewhat better than a Chinese inverted coaster and Vekoma Boomerang  i get peoples issues with the way the 2 sections feel quite disconnected from each other but individually they are strong. I like the Asian area perhaps a bit more than the Middle East section but these are two of my favourite parts of the world to travel in so they both appeal to me. 

 

There is perhaps an overuse of the LOTR rocks but it seems to work better here than in some other instances. Kind of like E.V.I.L in that regard. The top of the mountain is beautiful but perhaps could have done with peeps being able to get up there. It seems a little quiet compared to the more vibrant areas down below. This is perhaps intentional as when i think of areas up in the Himalayas like the Paro Taktsang monastery in Bhutan i think of them as scerene and quiet. However in the context of this park i feel its a bit of a miss.

 

Architecually its very good without being quite my cup of tea but i appriciate it for what it is and it gets across the theme admirably.  

 

All of the issues (Except the disconnection) are little niggles though which dont really detract massively from what is a very good park. If i was to vote it would be 75 to 80% from me.

 

I'm sure I will review the Icons park eventually but right now I am still too pissed off. When thats died down I'll write a review of what is another very good park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peace out NE

 

 

So now we have a competition in shambles with no referee to figure out how to move forward. 

And I thought this was a symbolic "peace out" until I saw that Trav is gone from the NE discord and our team's discord....

Sorry to see you go buddy. Still remember working on the station for the floorless in the MP park and having no idea who you were at the time....

So dumb.

Icons

 
This is clearly my favorite thing on the map. The sail is just so satisfying to look at. An amazing idea very well executed. 
I'm clearly sorry to say that everything else on the map felt like an enormous mess for me. I get the concept, it was a great idea... But it was badly composed in my opinion... The park looks heavily unfinished (is it?). The entrance is probably the worst.
Love the floating objects, that's really cool stuff.  
The colors were also very clashing overall and not very appealing. The gold color (on the coaster, the clock) was a bad choice and contrasted very badly with the rest of the map in my opinion. 
Talking about the clock, its shape was too blocky, I would have loved it to be a perfect circle. When I see the dedication you had with custom objects, it could have been a possibility to improve its look.
It looks like what failed this park was team work. I would love to know more about how players felt while building this.
Imo it's probably a 60% park because of the awesome content like the ships, but otherwise I can't say I liked it that much... Everything could have been so much better in a more simplistic setting. 
 
The Replacements
Awesome park. I really enjoyed it. While it looks like the continuity of a lot of parks we've seen during this H2H season and then misses some wow factor, it's very well executed and everything is done with great taste. Loved how the two coasters were separated on the map. The layouts are awesome ! Some of the archy was incredible, other parts were a bit weak (giant brown building in flying coaster area). Bubbsy you clearly proved you're a great builder here. Kuddos to the other builders, the result is clearly amazing. 
Not very innovative but incredibly efficient, 80% for me !

About Park A Far Cry From Home

 

Dear NE, 

    I am sorry for what has happened during this last round of NE.  In no way will this post be a plead about being the victim or anything of the sort because I'm not.  Going into this season we were labeled as the weakest team conceptually.  I think this gave the team a drive to prove everyone wrong.  I also had a personal goal of becoming a better player and breaking out of the mold I have put myself in.  At first I was really reluctant to be on the icons because I was talking to nin a lot about being on his team (fun fact: he was going to pick me next if Louis didn't).  All that being said, being on the Icons was the exact chance I personally needed to build to another level. And really if you look at it, that's what the whole team was in a sense.  Robbie need to prove that he could build a finished h2h park. Me, RWE, Version1, FredD, Mrbrightside, Terry Inferno, and Arguably Recurious all had a chance to prove our worth to the community as far as building goes. Coasterbill also was in the same boat as Robbie to a lesser extent because of his last season stint.  Even louis needed to prove that he could captain a good team.   

        From the beginning we were all excited for the contest.  We were all motivated, and all building. Then after the loss of the first park our morale spiraled. Sure Robbie built what is arguably the best h2h park this season but that was pretty much done before the first round was released.  Among other things I had to step in on round 3 (which I ended up loving despite its flaws and the theme) to actually build the park. As well as build two parks back to back with round four right after.  We lost with Arendelle and we took another tumble with our morale.  Then round four came and this was the breaking point for us. We saw the vote manipulation from the previous round with Replacements and Ultrarealists, this kind of led us into the mindset that it must be OK right. Obviously not. But we were trying to justify our actions based on something we knew wasn't OK. at least I knew it wasn't OK. 

        At this Point we had given up hope rob and I were working on a semi finals park together that would've been bangin, but because of all the drama Robbie decided to stop building. I was okay with this because I was about done too.  Then when we tallied the vote percentage and found out that we had a chance to get to semis, I perked up and started building again. semis was s virtually going to be a solo from me which I was excited about because it would have helped my overall goal.  We took our extension round 5 and the builders of this park in the topic came together quickly.  I am fucking SUPER PROUD of all the builders of this park and I do believe it still isn't being given the recognition it deserves.

     The day before the extension submission date we started talking about forfeiting to let the replacements go through.  I was at work so the whole conversation kind of passed me until I got home.  I was honestly against it because I was super motivated to work on the semis park. I didn't say anything because I figured I was outnumbered anyways and I didn't care as much as I would have if I just stopped to think about who it would affect. No one else knew this since I didn't say anything.  So there wasn't any push back from people who didn't want to forfeit.  I will say that Recurious said to do what you want but don't involve me in the drama.  Whether or not this means he was okay with it is up for debate.

         In this respect where I didn't reveal my true thoughts on the matter of forfeiting I am to blame. I do share some of the fault, and I am deeply sorry because it's a real shitty thing to do and I have been sick to my stomach ever since the comments and discussions have started flowing in.  As for Louis, I agree with what he was trying to accomplish on the outer skin of things.  NE needs some kind of change.  It needs a refresh of some kind. Maybe an overhaul of how we do things or maybe a new look of the site (NE6). I don't know what that is but I think it is something that needs to be talked about. 

        To my team I Know I can be brash in the way I critique things and I'm sorry if it has come off as something it is not meant to be because all I was ever trying to do is help us succeed to our fullest potential.  To The Ultra Realists who this effected the most,  I am deeply sorry that we went through with this because we as a team just ruined countless hours of work in the sense of the competition. We as a team should not have this kind of power because ultimately it's up to the community at large, no matter how much we disagree with the opinions.  Replacements, if what we did is permanent then you guys better fuckin win. I really do hope it isn't permanent because like I said it's not fair to either team. 

           As for me, I'm still gonna be here.  I'm still gonna build and be as active as I am now. I just don't want to be looked at as a perpetrator the rest of my NE days. It is my fault if I am and I know it will take time for the cracks to be mended, but I just hope that they actually do mend.  Louis thank you for giving me the opportunity to build in the fashion that I did because it truly was a great time even with all the bumps. I hope that everyone can eventually forgive Louis for the debatable mistake he has made. If not then that's up to you guys but I think it will come with time. 

         I'm sorry to see you go trav, also.  I'm sure there is a heavy burden especially this season for being a ref.  There is probably multiple things that we as non-captains are in the dark about, rightfully so, and there is more to it than just accepting the parks and taking the complaints. After this season I'm not sure how you got as far as you did.  Good luck in anything you do. 

I could talk about more but I've already taken up so much space so sorry for rambling on for so long, but I felt as if I needed to share.  I'll see you guys around though and please..... Let the rest of this h2h be a fucking bonanza of quality and good times.

                                                            Sincerely, Scoop

You're a good dude. No worries - I don't think anyone thinks badly of you.

I've really loved seeing your work this season, and really hope to see it continue. I'm sorry that our boat beat Arendelle though. Really didn't want to cause anyone to lose morale. It should be more about the self accomplishment and personal happiness than a contest in my opinion, and you seem to be on the same wavelength.

No need to feel sick to your stomach. You weren't the one who choose this, and there's definitely no malicious intent coming from you personally either.

However, I do hope that the Replacemen lose to Stranglelove in the finals just so we can beat nin a second time.

Josh

I love NE

  I will say that Recurious said to do what you want but don't involve me in the drama.  Whether or not this means he was okay with it is up for debate.

 

The thing is, I don't really want to be part of this debate in the first place. I don't want to have to justify whether or not I was "okay" with it or not. I didn't want to be put in this situation in the first place, and I wouldn't have been if I had been building in any other round. But for whatever reason I was the unlucky son of a bitch who's park was in the round when all the shit hits the fan. Like I said before, none of this was my choice. I just wanted to build a cool park participating in H2H, submit it to NE and see how it fared against another park and to have people tell me what they liked and what they thought I could have done better. Somehow I am now forced to justify whether I was okay with a decision which I did not want anything to do with in the first place. I said from the beginning in the icons discord that I did not want anything to do with it and that you guys could even kick me from the team if you wanted to, also the final file that I submitted did not have the extra read me in it.

 

That is all I want to say about it, I don't wanna be part of this discussion and I hope that the remainder of the comments in this thread that are in any shape directed at me will be focusing on the park which I put a lot of effort in to get finished in time, and not on all this bullshit that is going on.

Yeah, its definately a weird feeling being an icon right now.

I posted some of this in various places but I didnt hear about it until Wednesday afternoon while I was swamped at work and had been up for about 35 hours straight after an overnight Frontier flight in a middle seat (hi Steve ). Yesterday I spent the day on the phone with insurance companies, getting caught up on work I missed when I was gone and packing for this weekend when were driving to 12 hours NC for Mothers Day. I couldnt be bothered to give a shit about NE stuff. I really couldnt. I still dont know the backstory. I havent really been involved in this contest at all since R3. I know certain people yesterday had an attitude of We were all okay with it so we all deserve the blame for it but this was something that actually came up really fast and I didnt really process it at the time, I also felt sort of disconnected by that point anyway.

At this point do I feel like this was the right decision? No, but at the time I was way too tired and way too busy with life to focus any time on NE. At the time I totally deferred on this. Hopefully people dont hold that against me, but if you do then I guess thats fair.

That said, Louis is a good guy even if he (arguably) made the wrong call here. It sucks to see such amazing animosity between people who I like and consider friends. Hopefully the site and the contest can move on from this and hopefully people keep in mind that good people can do not-so-good things and stop resorting to the types of personal insults that have been flung around this site so nonchalontly the past few days. It sucks to see that.

Really loved the idea of the pocket watch, Recurious. Felt a bit cramped, but that's my biggest gripe with this park. 

I thought a far cry from home was fucking the bees knees. Theyre both good parks but damn son what a great bit of landscaping

is "bees knees" a phrase because it sort of sounds like "business"? wow

I don't have time for a whole review right now but I'll post quick thoughts about the parks and review later. Overall I think it's two great parks. Replacements dropped yet another great park, your consistency is amazing. This is probably my favorite no Tubaio Icons park. My first reaction is that the Icons would have won my vote. It definitely comes from the La Reve school of parkmaking that I really enjoy. The whole narrative isn't that clear, but I find that fun to think about and try and decide for myself. The whole clock motif was a lot of fun. Great job Recurious, maybe your best work yet. 

 

Another good park. Zheng He and it's waterfalls were  my favorite part. I really like the idea of a silk road theme, but I wish you would have pushed it further, and used it to link the sections more, as it is now it's just two seperate cultural areas at times. I'm honestly not too excited whenever I see an asian theme due to their abundance, but I thought the color choices here really helped it stand out. The arabian area is a bit weaker to me, particurally by the gate. The gate I'm sure was faithful to real life, but it just looked a bit awkward in game to me, especially towards the top. Great park though, and I would be curious to see who did what, especially with Sens joining in so late on 

Don't worry, I'll write a review of both parks later as both are friggin' awesome but, ehm....

 

We all cool now?

Just wait it out Jappy. 

I liked a far cry from home a lot! The arrow was awesome, as was the flyer. The architecture was definitely not bad but a bit same-ish and I feel I've seen it before. Doesn't mean it's not skillfully made though. 

Great effort!