PhoenixWing101

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• United Kingdom

That entrance for Gauntlegrym is just so damn good; defo the highlight of the park for me. Drowned was a close second; would have voted for both if given the chance

Wow, two more stunning parks for Round 1!


Acqua Alta 1896

Damn, nice to see another drowned park, and one that's so different, and with some absolutely stunning architecture! Plenty of creative uses of objects here and some nice details like the planes. How did y'all build so quickly I'll never know.

My issues with the park are varied. One - some of the architecture feels almost overly detailed to the point of just being messy, and the building with the pink layer... not a fan of that one really. Also i just generally feels a bit busy and overwhelming really. I dunno, maybe I'm just more used to parks with heavy landscaping. It's still one hell of an impressive piece


Lost World

On first inspection, I hated this park. Honestly. It's the palette; y'all took a gamble and I don't think it paid off for everyone, judging by what a lot of people are saying.

HOWEVER, when I came back to view this park again (and my first thought was "OMG they have Pterosaurs!") and I have to say it's grown on me. The main area by the lava still feels cluttered as all hell (I'd defo have moved the pirate ship for one) but there's tonnes of details - I especially love all the crashed aircraft, and the shipwrecked boat which definitely tells the story. The "Glory" ride is still as crazy as ever and the drowning guests are a concern I'll admit, but I think that this must be the point of this map after all!


Upon viewing the parks again it's definitely a much closer battle than I originally thought; and obviously congrats to both teams for an impresive amount of work! But in the end, I have to give it to the Lost World, despite the damage it's done to my eyes. Congrats to both teams!

Finally got time to write a review for these two.

La Tomatina:

Wow! This is such a bold statement to go with so much red, and I'm sure you've heard it before but it just doesn't do it for me. Would definitely have made the supports brown or something, plus I'm confused why it's just the one train. It would also have been cool to get those diagonal brakes working.

Also the whole thing seems to be overly red - I've looked at images of the town in question and the roofs aren't nearly as red, so I'd have tweaked that palette. Also the diagonal aqueduct feels really forced and is glitchy for me and it initially felt repetitive for me (especially given the fact that a lot of the walls are similar colours to the roofs too), so I have to admit on my first viewing I was not a fan of this park.

BUT, when looking at the park over and over... there's just a ton of detail here. From the little scenes such as the security guard with the police car, the guests jumping in the town square, the parked tractor, the medical tent area, the tomato truck, the tarpaulins used to protect some of the houses, the greenhouses used as the coaster queue, the tomato size contest... there's just a ton of fun stuff to look at here and I'm very glad I zoomed in and got past the sea of red. Also that coaster layout is pretty fire, gotta be honest. I do think it looks better with white or brown supports, but it is what it is.

Gauntlegrym

Let's start with that entrance, which is absolutely amazing! The landscaping is just *chef's kiss*, the rockwork works, and it's just well composed, as is the interior of it. The rockwork here doesn't feel as strong to me, and I really would have gone for a different flame colour throughout that doesn't match the water (maybe a purple? to keep the fantasy theme), also the steps in the middle kinda lead to nowhere?

The rest of the park is really hit and miss with the rockwork for me. I think the issue might be that too many rock types were blended in certain areas, plus I think the coloured expansion rocks usually don't work with all those columns of them.

Going for a waterpark was a bold choice, and I honestly feel you tried to cram too many slides into here. This is evident with them not really having enough time to stop properly, and most rides end very abruptly which just feels off to me. I did like the hacking done to get two or even three slides served by the same queue.

The coaster is fantastic, as is the area it travels through. But in some sections, the park just feels a bit unfinished to me? The bridge near the foundary (great ferris wheel and chain combination), for instance, feels like it was just left. I also would have preferred to see the top spin operating, but I'm not even sure myself how I'd go about hacking it so I can understand this being left. Also the halfpipe, with it's sudden turn 90 degrees to the left? Not a fan, not gonna lie.

Overall though, both parks are amazing for the little time we've had to do things, resulting in two very different parks that it's taken me over a day to decide on. I have to emphasize that, despite the "flaws" in each map I really like both of them and commend you for your work. But overall I have to give it to the Cereal Killers. Can't wait to see what y'all come up with in the next rounds!

Posting here because I'm very much new to NE but have been active in other RCT communities for around 18 months now.

A showcase of my work

Pros

- I was used to building realistic coasters even before I picked RCT back up in 2019. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to making realistic coaster layouts, even for fantasy parks.

- Lengthy experience with NCSO builds in many different styles, and a desire to build in more styles

- Experience making CSO Ride Vehicles, which I can bring to a team

- Can speedbuild where necessary, and speedbuild to a high quality.

- Experience with shoestringing - both from flat rides to entire Rollercoasters

- Experience with vehicle hacking using the Vehicle Hacking Plugin

- Basically always online on Discord if you need to reach me

Cons

- Basically no experience in CSO. Whilst I would like to learn... don't expect me to carry here.

- New to H2H and NE so I'm still not 100% sure what I'm doing, and I only know a few people.

- Need to be motivated to build or make ride vehicles; COVID isolation has made my motivation variable. Hopefully my mental health holds together.

- I have a nasty habit of leaving things until the last minute when it comes to RCT. This wasn't an issue in my joint RCC entry with Shen or with building in the group Tag Parks largely because other people were relying on me to finish it in time, but it's something to be aware of.

- My solo entries tend to be very cramped and not have a lot of breathing room, though I'm aware of this and working on it.

What to expect from me

- I'll definitely try to get custom rides for any park that needs them, as well as helping with layouts and some of the more technical aspects of the game like Vehicle Hacking

- I will probably spend 5 minutes building a layout and then 5 hours tweaking it until it's perfect.

- I will pull my weight with the scenery on any NCSO park I'm put in, but expect me to take a more technical role on any CSO projects. I will absolutely do the custom supports though because I have experience with this, and I will probably be good with foliage.

- I'm learning every day with RCT and (hopefully) improving all the time. Whilst I don't promise I will suddenly become competent with CSO, I'll damn well try my hardest if it's needed!

Role: Player

Games: OpenRCT2 and WW/LL
Availability: Will probably be gone for a week or two in May/June/July depending on travel restrictions. Other than that I don't have anything upcoming.