Post by MrKairo on May 18, 2017 13:14:45 GMT -5
My first impression is disappointment. Given the additional time they took and the marketing ("Prestige Box!"), I was expecting much more.
1) I was unimpressed with the Curios. They used to surprise me. I used to sit and scrutinize those things. (Holy crap, an absinthe spoon! Why is this token so weird? What is the story with this lice comb?) But these Curios remind me more of LootCrate, where it is just stuff without an experience attached to them and I expect the same sort of stuff each time. I joined the Mysterious Package Company for, well.. mystery. Not "Each month I shall receives stickers, a pin, paper craft and a pewter knickknack." They're just stuff. If someone saw any of this in my house and asked about it, all I could say is, "Got it in a subscription box," as opposed to, "This lice comb is the secret to two hidden messages."
2) In Volume 3, I didn't like the marking of the puzzles because I felt like they betrayed the story concept of the paper (that a hidden figure was using the paper to send encoded messages). Using the symbols to mark the puzzles felt like A.M. waving his arms yelling, "There's something over here everybody!" But I forgave them because the symbols were another cipher used several times and had an awesome final payoff. But the difficulty ratings marking the puzzles on this are so much worse. That's not just "Look over here." That's "Here's where you should look and it's a low-difficulty puzzle so why not bring the kiddies..."
3) Which brings me to my last disappointment: the solutions. I get that, for a lot of people, it can be infuriating not to be able to figure out an answer. You just want to KNOW. But not having ready answers was a selling point for me. I wanted to have to team up with my friends or reach out to the internet for help. I wanted to have a sudden epiphany that lead to the answer, not to have a hint or the whole answer just out there at a link. Some of the puzzles in previous issues kept me (and this forum) busy for months. Now, it will take days at most. Which I find sad.
I realize that MPC is trying to appeal to a larger audience. That's just makes fiscal sense. But by watering it down to this extent, they are killing the things that made the company special and kept me coming back for more. Thus far, Gods of Madness is less engaging than if I had gone to a bookstore and picked up a crossword book.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this issue is packed with ciphers that I haven't noticed yet. Maybe MPC is playing a long game and subsequent issues will lead to deeper enjoyment of this one. But it honestly doesn't look that way at the moment. If this keeps up, the next issue will probably be my last.
PS Not a big thing, but using C&C as a big ad for one of the Experiences is pretty tacky...
1) I was unimpressed with the Curios. They used to surprise me. I used to sit and scrutinize those things. (Holy crap, an absinthe spoon! Why is this token so weird? What is the story with this lice comb?) But these Curios remind me more of LootCrate, where it is just stuff without an experience attached to them and I expect the same sort of stuff each time. I joined the Mysterious Package Company for, well.. mystery. Not "Each month I shall receives stickers, a pin, paper craft and a pewter knickknack." They're just stuff. If someone saw any of this in my house and asked about it, all I could say is, "Got it in a subscription box," as opposed to, "This lice comb is the secret to two hidden messages."
2) In Volume 3, I didn't like the marking of the puzzles because I felt like they betrayed the story concept of the paper (that a hidden figure was using the paper to send encoded messages). Using the symbols to mark the puzzles felt like A.M. waving his arms yelling, "There's something over here everybody!" But I forgave them because the symbols were another cipher used several times and had an awesome final payoff. But the difficulty ratings marking the puzzles on this are so much worse. That's not just "Look over here." That's "Here's where you should look and it's a low-difficulty puzzle so why not bring the kiddies..."
3) Which brings me to my last disappointment: the solutions. I get that, for a lot of people, it can be infuriating not to be able to figure out an answer. You just want to KNOW. But not having ready answers was a selling point for me. I wanted to have to team up with my friends or reach out to the internet for help. I wanted to have a sudden epiphany that lead to the answer, not to have a hint or the whole answer just out there at a link. Some of the puzzles in previous issues kept me (and this forum) busy for months. Now, it will take days at most. Which I find sad.
I realize that MPC is trying to appeal to a larger audience. That's just makes fiscal sense. But by watering it down to this extent, they are killing the things that made the company special and kept me coming back for more. Thus far, Gods of Madness is less engaging than if I had gone to a bookstore and picked up a crossword book.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this issue is packed with ciphers that I haven't noticed yet. Maybe MPC is playing a long game and subsequent issues will lead to deeper enjoyment of this one. But it honestly doesn't look that way at the moment. If this keeps up, the next issue will probably be my last.
PS Not a big thing, but using C&C as a big ad for one of the Experiences is pretty tacky...