The Wonderland Board

Krishiv738 wrote:First thing is to press the quote button so you get to the editor where you see my hidden LOL but don't post it.

he knows that

it's just that everyone is Completely Missing the Point

Found somthing,use vault to display cutscenes.

... Yes, and what are the values...?

We've known that the Vault can be used to trigger cutscenes for a while now, I just don't think anyone has the values for PoTZ's cutscenes.

Qloof234 wrote:... Yes, and what are the values...?

We've known that the Vault can be used to trigger cutscenes for a while now, I just don't think anyone has the values for PoTZ's cutscenes.

I will try to see master.dat of escape in editor tools.

At PoTZ now - Such a Knowing reference.

Yot Yot5’s Review of Wonderland Adventures: Planet of the Z-Bots
It’s been quite a while since the third and final game in the Wonderland Adventures game series was released, and I’ve finally got round to writing a full review. This is just my opinion, and if your opinion is different, good for you! Go and write your own review and tell us about it!

Storyline
I think I can safely say that the first act of storyline is the best. It’s fast-paced and imaginative, and there are many unexpected twists and turns. Unfortunately, the storyline quickly drifts into a generic video-game layout, after the first 30 minutes. It basically involves walking to a new location, rescuing a rainbow wizard, walking to another new location, rescuing another rainbow wizard, walking to another new location, rescuing another rainbow wizard, walking to a new – YAWN.

It’s not that the other games in this series were free of the “generic video-game” syndrome. In fact, the original Wonderland Adventures game was almost exactly the same as this one, but with Rainbow Shards replacing the wizards. It’s just annoying to have such a good beginning and then such an empty middle act. In Mysteries of Fire Island (my favourite Wonderland Adventures game) the storyline is packed full of surprises – from beginning to end! What’s more, each of the surprises in that game was vital to the overall plot. It’s not that POTZ doesn’t have plot twists in the middle act. In fact, there are an awful lot of them. It’s just that the “Flow” of the Jeebos, the tests of the Shadow Stinkers, or the tribe of Grynklers don’t have anything to do with the attack of the Z-Bots.

I enjoyed the first and final parts of the storyline in this game, but I think the middle act could’ve been much better. I rate the storyline 3/5.

Visuals/Graphics
Obviously, we don’t play a Wonderland game for impressive visuals. Most of the time, we’re so focused with a devious puzzle or an annoying move that it’s actually somewhat hard to pull ourselves away from it and admire the scenery.

Not in this game. In this game, each planet’s texture is so different you can’t help but stare at it. It’s truly stunning how many different environments MS has managed to cram into one game. My personal favourite is probably Jaava, a jungle-covered planet with many new and recycled scenery pieces. It looks so deep you can’t help but believe you’re there. Other planets include Barren, a sandy planet with stealthy beasts called Lurkers, Qwertyx, an icy planet covered in crystals, and Uo, a strange planet which happens to be home to the Shadow Stinkers…

If there is one complaint I have with the graphics, it’s the random genetic modification of all the transporters in the universe that makes them shrink and grow rapidly, but this is a tiny problem compared to the pure awesomeness of the planets. POTZ has definitely earned 5/5 in this category.

Gameplay/Level Design
Oh, boy. Of all the categories I decided to review, this was the one I was looking least forward to, mainly because I knew my opinion could easily be taken the wrong way. So, before we get started, let me just repeat what I said at the start of this review: this is my opinion, not yours. Please don’t hate me for it!

Let’s begin with the new gameplay elements. Are they “fresh” enough to give this game a new feeling? Are they complex enough to be used in conjunction with other objects, already in-game? The answer to both those questions is “well, sort of…”

Like MOFI, most the new gameplay elements follow what I call the “SAME; BUT” rule. For example: one of the new elements works the same as a normal chomper but it can travel in water. Another one of the new elements works the same as a normal fireflower but it only activates when you’re close enough to it. Another one of the new elements works the same as a magic charger but it can only be used once and disappears afterwards.

Obviously, coding a new gameplay element is extremely difficult and takes lots of time, so you can’t really expect every single new toy to be 100% original. In any case, even though most of them follow the “SAME; BUT” rule, several gameplay elements are extremely unique and very clever. Most notable is the new indigo magic, which can be used in practically any situation and leads to some baffling puzzles. It’s a shame it doesn't react to floing bubbles, though!

However, my biggest complaint doesn't have anything to do with the new gameplay elements. Nope, my biggest complaint is in the level design itself.

Of course, I never really expected the adventures to be as difficult as the ones in MOFI. Although I love the extra-tricky puzzles in that game, I know that most of the community didn't enjoy MOFI. However, I think MS went a bit overboard with the whole “easier adventures” thing. In the entire game of POTZ, I can only remember 5 adventures that took me more than thirty minutes to solve:

Flash Frozen (this was a great puzzle)
Leapfrog (another great puzzle)
Star Trails (definitely the hardest adventure I managed to solve in this game)
Gem Challenge (there were lots of different solutions to this, but they were all tricky)
Button Challenge (the only adventure I needed a hint to solve)

That’s 5 difficult adventures from 132. That’s not very many!

However, I wouldn't have a problem with this game if it was just easy, like the original Wonderland Adventures game. That game, like POTZ, had a couple of tricky adventures, but it knew it was an easy game and stayed easy all the time. My biggest problem with POTZ’s adventures is that there were several moments where it seemed like MS was trying to make a hard adventure, but it ended up easy due to various alternate solutions or small glitches.

In MOFI, when you found an alternate solution, you knew that your solution was not the intended one. However, because most of the alternate solutions were alternate, it didn't matter. You had used lots of brainpower, you had just used it in a different way to the adventure’s creator. Sadly, in POTZ, I found myself accidentally finding alternate solutions, thinking “Wow that was easy adventure” instead of “Whoa, that’s a really complicated alternate solution!” In fact, I had no idea that my solution for “Turtle Corral” (which I found in about 10 minutes) wasn't the intended one until one of the game testers called Muzozavr told me how “awesome” it was.

Even more out of place are the many loopholes in several of the game’s final adventures. The adventure “Out of Sequence” has an incredibly neat intended solution, but I ended solving it on my first try by using a simple trick. The adventure “Suspicious Silence” has another complex intended solution, but I managed to complete it with several magic charges completely unused. These adventures are near the end of the game, and it seems quite obvious to me that MS intended them to be serious brain-benders, but they just ended up extremely easy.

What’s strange is that Muzozavr also told me that he actually reported the loopholes in the two adventures I mentioned to MS. I understand that MS considers alternate solutions to be “further enjoyment” in his adventures, but there’s a point where these alternate solutions just make the adventure too easy. On this game, I definitely think MS passed the limit.

Obviously, there’s also a point where your adventures become too hard. In MOFI, several of the adventures in the Pirate Camp and Sundog Island definitely passed this limit, but even after skipping “Into the Deep, Dark Cave…” I still spent hours and hours happily puzzling away on that game. Couldn’t MS have made a few, optional adventures which were extra-difficult in POTZ? It would've given puzzle-loving fans like me a lot more playing time, but would've still allowed less experienced players to complete the game.

Meh, I don’t know. Maybe it was just me, but I just didn't enjoy the adventures in this game as much as I enjoyed the adventures in WA and MOFI. However, it’s still a Wonderland game, and I love Wonderland’s gameplay style. This category gets 3/5.

Total Score
Storyline: 3
Visuals/Graphics: 5
Gameplay/Level Design: 3

(3 + 5 +3)/3 = 3.5

Total Score: 3.5/5

Summary
I love Wonderland games. Believe me; I really, really enjoyed playing this game. However, I personally think MS failed to realize the way difficulty and alternate solutions work with each other. If MS really wanted to, he could make an easy game with medium-difficulty alternate solutions (like WA) and I could enjoy it. I could probably get through it quickly, but at least I could concentrate on the storyline and enjoy myself. With POTZ, however, MS has made a medium-difficulty game with easy alternate solutions, and that led to a rather uneven experience!

So… yeah. I love your games, MS, but this isn't a personal favorite.

Does no one else find it odd that the signs built by Stinkers are written in a strange language, yet most of the z-bot ones are plain english? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

I can see:

****COMMANDER 64 BASIC X2****
64k RAM SYSTEM 38911 BASIC BYTES FREE
READY
[

Written on the Zbot signs.

That's just barely English to me.

Sorry for the double post, but...

I would like to state my opinions of the POTZ game-not a review so much as a.. well, rambling post.

As for dialogue, I thought it was just fine! Though it was a bit silly hearing Guggenheimer giving a floing tutorial from inside a cage with jeebloos surrounding him... (:lol:), I found the dialogue just fine!
Kind of funny, actually; I am glad that was in there.

Though I do admit, at the beginning of the game, I almost found it a bit too confusing for my mind; however, I do believe this is dedicated to my playing RTW so much and not playing WA in ages.

As for decor, I found it very nice! Excelent work, actually

Under levels, I personally found them just right for me; but, I believe I don't have the same kind of hardcore mind that yot yot5 has.

The one thing I was a bit down about was that I felt as though I didn't get to play with all of the features in enough levels. I mean, I am glad that they are indigenous to specific planets, but, of course, with me, I like to throw every thing in to make even stranger events take place.

This particularely came to mind when I played with burst flowers...
I wanted more things to go boom!

But, in my honest opinion, I found the game extremely well done, and I thank Midnight Synergy for giving us this gift!

Besides, I can make levels with things that go boom...
* Goes into a mild daydreem of burst levels... *

I found an unused dialog which introduces the basics like right click on an item in inventory and again right click where you want it.It is the Swap basics. I don't know dialog number.

It's not unused.

Qloof234 wrote:It's not unused.

where it is used?

Krishiv738 wrote:

Qloof234 wrote:It's not unused.

where it is used?

In the Z-Bot ship, at the start of the game. Just read all the signs.

Muzozavr wrote:you mean Star Crossing, right?

Oh, yeah. Sorry.

Muzozavr wrote:None of the Qwertyx levels, like "Icy Waters", "POW-R-Freeze" or "Scritter Slide"? No "Guard Station?" No "Z-Bot Vault"? None of the "Rescue Mission" levels? And you sure you didn't use the "fast recovery" trick to change direction on brr-tiles? Also, despite it's loopholishness, considering our troubles during testing, no "Escape!"? Really?

Yeah, I forgot about "Scritter Slide", and that was a hard one. I didn't find the others you mentioned weren't very tricky, though. "Escape!" looked deceivingly complex, but was surprisingly easy if you just dove straight in.

Muzozavr wrote:Be careful every time you bring up WA as an example. Its alternate solutions are almost as countless as the ones in POTZ, though maybe not as obvious and trickier to find. The most hilarious one is finishing "The Purple Shard" in under 20 seconds by blinking past the gates.

Yes, you mentioned this before. Like I said: I'm fine with alternate solutions, but they have to be alternate. Because WA's alternate solutions were pretty hard, they didn't effect the overall difficulty of the adventure.

Muzozavr wrote:As for "Out of Sequence", exactly how would you repair that adventure? I see no way. I know there are problems, and I reported them... but I don't see a good way to fix them. Due to lack of time, neither did MS.

See diagram below.

1: Replace the blue ground tiles with water tiles, so you can't use Brr magic there.

2: Edit the area within the red box, making it only passable with Grow (NOT BRR).

You would now have to solve the adventure using MS's solution (or using a new loophole, if there is one).

Huh... speaking of alternate solutions to Suspicious Silence...

I found a somewhat difficult solution that only required one pop and one floing!

Jutomi wrote:Huh... speaking of alternate solutions to Suspicious Silence...

I found a somewhat difficult solution that only required one pop you mean pow, right? and one floing!

.... do tell. Does it involve brr-quirking the scritter and then powing the iceflower from the other side? I really don't think you can actually do that.

The "best" alternate solution I found is, ironically, the exact opposite in terms of leftovers. I know how to beat the level with 1 floing and 2 flash spells and it's EXTREMELY simple to do, though it's tricky to figure out. So the pow/floing you use are not used in my solution and vice versa.

Well, I have done that...
but I do, in fact, mean pop. You know, the one you collect before the scritter.

I do quick-brr the second scritter, and this was actually my innitial solution until I used two other solutions and came up with this.

In a sence, adding 4, 5, and 6, and coming up with 2.

I am sure you know where the pop is used; that transporter at the end of the level.

The floing bubble is, as I've found by some other user, used on top of the brr wraith.

I freeze the first scritter, and then use the pow wraith to smash the ice open, much like in the solution I saw inmrmenshow use.

I used the Brrr wraith to freeze both the iceflower and the second scritter, and... well, that's pretty much it.

Ah, so you're using the "floing on top of a wraith" trick which allows you to be fast enough to do it this way. Nice. I was trying to do something very similar during testing, but with 2 floing bubbles more work is required and they evaporate sooner, so I wasn't fast enough even though I tried.

I did suggest a defence against the whole scritter-steps-down-but-gets-frozen-anyway to at least require POW, but, again, my suggestions on "Suspicious Silence" mostly didn't work out very well.

I still think either my initial solution (with flashing the scritter to the green button) or the gem-based one were the most clever, either of them worth removing 1 flo and fixing other shortcuts.

Z-bot Prime just deployed his new camo z-bots...

the wa3 editor isnt even out yet and recolorings already exist

hey man, recolors are useful in moderation

moderation only exists in the off-topic

think about what that implies

Did someone call me?

How did this emerge from a topic that had discussion about bubbles?

Apparently, the line goes as so:

Wa3->Silence->Bubble Trouble->Green Master Cubes->A Blue Pony.

Jutomi, stop reading people's avatars instead of their posts.

‎

Emerald141 wrote:

MyNameIsKooky wrote:moderation only exists in the off-topic

think about what that implies

not enough powar 3:

figures

but yes

Jutomi wrote:How did this emerge from a topic that had discussion about bubbles?

Apparently, the line goes as so:

Wa3->Silence->Bubble Trouble->Green Master Cubes->A Blue Pony.

who said anything about a blue pony

he was referring to my avatar

i always find a way to drop in unexpected

always