Post by Ulysses on Mar 22, 2020 23:21:28 GMT
By the time you're reading this, I'm pretty much dead. 10th place again. Seems to be a really big recurring theme for me.
Anyway, if you are reading this, it's because you're somehow interested in what I have to say after the game, or you're just bored post-game and scrolling through all of the messages that have been left behind. It's no surprise that in this game, I was pretty much a shadow of who I usually am-- the fast-talking wallposter who's too social for his own good/the extreme goat that somehow survives much longer than they should. Here, I barely had a third of the confessionals that I do on average, and post-game, I don't even feel that bad about being eliminated. Either that, or I'm just bitter and it has yet to set in.
No offense to Malkon or any of the wonderful producers who worked to make this game what it is-- I have an immense amount of respect for them, and I could never hope to pull off what they do sometimes. However, I think that this game... was flawed, and I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the flaws here in the hopes that someone in the future could improve upon this, because I feel like it's a good concept that was executed... poorly. I get that there's a coronavirus and all going on, but I really feel like one of the big flaws in this game was partially due to how slow and formulaic it was.
Yes, there were twists-- but they were either used up in the first round or had very little impact on the game. For the most part, it was just following the same formula round after round, and without a Jury at the end, there's little hope of ever shaking things up without some sort of twist. Every round, each move seemed like it was simply to guarantee someone another spot forward-- with most of the early game being filled up with tons of 'inactive boots', and tons of inactives to take note of as well (which I don't think is the fault of the casting director). Mid-game, it became a game of 'how do I get further', which resulted in a lot of boots that were seemingly big moves, but really didn't take all that much out of the game either. Hell, placing two back to back 'Big Eliminator' twists was probably the most exciting the game had gotten, but after that, it took a steep dive because the lines and game plans had been pretty much drawn in the sand.
My biggest problem in this game is that there was absolutely nothing to talk about most of the time. Yes, everyone started out together and there was a lot of small talk in the beginning, but I think this is the least small talk I've ever had in a game since managing relationships doesn't really matter in the long run. Outside of that, there was game discussion-- but one plan would be literally enough to make it deep into the game (like the alliance of four almost bringing it all to the merge based off of a deal made in the first two days). The issue here is that with no social politicking and no incentive to strategize beyond making one plan and a backup and sticking to them, there's no reason to have more conversation than just a couple paragraphs detailing a plan, and the fact that I was doing just as well when I wasn't trying as when I was is sort of depressing-- not to mention the fact that someone like Wenya Zhu is now in the final 8 for some reason?
I think the one big change I would make to have people talk more would be to have pairs be more dynamic. Instead of having it be possible to stick with one person throughout the entirety of the game, maybe add some mandatory switching and force people to think on their feet. That would completely throw any alliance that had been made off balance and shake up the game entirely. Imagine if I ended up with Susan, or Kirby ended up with Shuichi or something wild like that in the pre-merge. The fallout would be amazing.
In any case, don't think that I'm criticizing the makers and producers of this game in any way. It did have its moments for me-- but overall, it just wasn't that impressive despite spending ~5 weeks playing it. Without any twists to shake things up, a formulaic approach with little deviations, and no reason to talk to someone more than once or twice per day, I just didn't really find it to be my cup of tea, and I apologize to any spectators I may have disappointed throughout it. I just didn't find myself having as much fun strategizing and discussing stuff as I do in other games, and part of that can be attributed to the cast, and part of it can be attributed to the design of this as a whole. If you did read this whole thing up to this point, then I thank you for your time-- and again, I wish to stress that I genuinely mean no offense to the hosts here or anything when I say it's flawed-- I just think that it could be better for a lot of people than it was, and the point of an LSG is to give as many people as possible a fun and enjoyable experience.
Can't figure out a good way to end this, so I'll just leave my thoughts at that. See you all at the reunion or something,
Ulysses.
Anyway, if you are reading this, it's because you're somehow interested in what I have to say after the game, or you're just bored post-game and scrolling through all of the messages that have been left behind. It's no surprise that in this game, I was pretty much a shadow of who I usually am-- the fast-talking wallposter who's too social for his own good/the extreme goat that somehow survives much longer than they should. Here, I barely had a third of the confessionals that I do on average, and post-game, I don't even feel that bad about being eliminated. Either that, or I'm just bitter and it has yet to set in.
No offense to Malkon or any of the wonderful producers who worked to make this game what it is-- I have an immense amount of respect for them, and I could never hope to pull off what they do sometimes. However, I think that this game... was flawed, and I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the flaws here in the hopes that someone in the future could improve upon this, because I feel like it's a good concept that was executed... poorly. I get that there's a coronavirus and all going on, but I really feel like one of the big flaws in this game was partially due to how slow and formulaic it was.
Yes, there were twists-- but they were either used up in the first round or had very little impact on the game. For the most part, it was just following the same formula round after round, and without a Jury at the end, there's little hope of ever shaking things up without some sort of twist. Every round, each move seemed like it was simply to guarantee someone another spot forward-- with most of the early game being filled up with tons of 'inactive boots', and tons of inactives to take note of as well (which I don't think is the fault of the casting director). Mid-game, it became a game of 'how do I get further', which resulted in a lot of boots that were seemingly big moves, but really didn't take all that much out of the game either. Hell, placing two back to back 'Big Eliminator' twists was probably the most exciting the game had gotten, but after that, it took a steep dive because the lines and game plans had been pretty much drawn in the sand.
My biggest problem in this game is that there was absolutely nothing to talk about most of the time. Yes, everyone started out together and there was a lot of small talk in the beginning, but I think this is the least small talk I've ever had in a game since managing relationships doesn't really matter in the long run. Outside of that, there was game discussion-- but one plan would be literally enough to make it deep into the game (like the alliance of four almost bringing it all to the merge based off of a deal made in the first two days). The issue here is that with no social politicking and no incentive to strategize beyond making one plan and a backup and sticking to them, there's no reason to have more conversation than just a couple paragraphs detailing a plan, and the fact that I was doing just as well when I wasn't trying as when I was is sort of depressing-- not to mention the fact that someone like Wenya Zhu is now in the final 8 for some reason?
I think the one big change I would make to have people talk more would be to have pairs be more dynamic. Instead of having it be possible to stick with one person throughout the entirety of the game, maybe add some mandatory switching and force people to think on their feet. That would completely throw any alliance that had been made off balance and shake up the game entirely. Imagine if I ended up with Susan, or Kirby ended up with Shuichi or something wild like that in the pre-merge. The fallout would be amazing.
In any case, don't think that I'm criticizing the makers and producers of this game in any way. It did have its moments for me-- but overall, it just wasn't that impressive despite spending ~5 weeks playing it. Without any twists to shake things up, a formulaic approach with little deviations, and no reason to talk to someone more than once or twice per day, I just didn't really find it to be my cup of tea, and I apologize to any spectators I may have disappointed throughout it. I just didn't find myself having as much fun strategizing and discussing stuff as I do in other games, and part of that can be attributed to the cast, and part of it can be attributed to the design of this as a whole. If you did read this whole thing up to this point, then I thank you for your time-- and again, I wish to stress that I genuinely mean no offense to the hosts here or anything when I say it's flawed-- I just think that it could be better for a lot of people than it was, and the point of an LSG is to give as many people as possible a fun and enjoyable experience.
Can't figure out a good way to end this, so I'll just leave my thoughts at that. See you all at the reunion or something,
Ulysses.