|
|
Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 9:07:53 GMT -5
In a hypothetical 2022 where you had control of the SASUKE budget and had enough money and time to make ONE of these changes, which one would you go for?
I tried to create a spread of common complaints that I see, plus a couple of my own bias, but I’m sure I have forgotten some xD Please vote Other and comment for anything I haven’t put up there!
I haven’t included things like time limit changes on the assumption that they don’t really cost much, comparative to planning, machining, testing and approving new or changed obstacles. Similarly, tearing down all of Stage 1/2 and starting over is assumed to be beyond the scope of the budget and I was trying to keep the list fairly realistic!
|
|
|
|
Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 9:24:58 GMT -5
If I were being truly objective I would vote for Twice-Yearly Tournaments (even if it squeezed the budget so tight there couldn’t be any changes) but in the interest of spicing it up a bit, I’ve gone with a Stage 1 visual revamp - it’s so ugly!
There’s no theming or even cohesion of visual style! The Fishbone is two different colours, one of which is bright neon yellow! I understand that new mats are surprisingly expensive but that red/blue colour scheme is so garish and unlike the older courses which had the green/ivy aesthetic or the red+stone or the shin-SASUKE ‘everything is a little bit grimy and menacing looking’ the current one just... exists. And I don’t think it helps how ponderous S1 can feel sometimes.
So that’s my change (ideally Rolling Hill would disappear while I was at it) but, sticking to my own rules, I’d give S1 a visual face-lift to a cohesive theme that isn’t trying to stab the viewers eyeballs out! Probably a return to a more nature/wilderness themed look to contrast with S2 and S3 but as I said in the S2 Changes thread, that’s my Crystal Maze/Raven bias talking xD
|
|
|
|
Post by dakohosu on Jan 1, 2022 10:48:16 GMT -5
Isn't 'new obtacle for Stage x' and 'Remove obstacle from Stage x' the same thing?
Personally I couldn't care less about how the stage looks; substance over style any day. Though I think Stage 2, for all it's flaws, has always stuck out to me as being the most visually exciting and that hasn't changed which is good.
I'd prioritise a new Stage 1 obstacle, specifically either replacing the Rolling Hill and/or the Silk Slider. I've said this on another thread but the latter is far too easy and the former becomes quite painful to watch as a lot of competitors take AAAAGES on the obstacle. I'd replace either/both with a more fast-paced, far more failable obstacle to ween out the joke competitors as early as possible, like Shin-Sasuke and even earlier shows did successfully. It ain't the world's hardest obstacle course if anyone can get halfway through Stage 1.
Controversially I'd 100% prioritise this over modifying Stage 2, given that despite Stage 2 being considered too stale or easy, it still does a good job at failing the fodder who get lucky.
Stage 3 has just been revamped so not much to say on that. The Pipe Slider still being the final obstacle sucks, sure; I'd much rather have the original Flying Bar as the final obsatcle and the Ascending Drum Hopper as the first, but it's no longer anywhere near as unbalanced difficulty-wise as Stage 1 with the new modifications.
|
|
|
|
Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 11:06:08 GMT -5
Isn't 'new obtacle for Stage x' and 'Remove obstacle from Stage x' the same thing? Personally I couldn't care less about how the stage looks; substance over style any day. Though I think Stage 2, for all it's flaws, has always stuck out to me as being the most visually exciting and that hasn't changed which is good. I'd prioritise a new Stage 1 obstacle, specifically either replacing the Rolling Hill and/or the Silk Slider. I've said this on another thread but the latter is far too easy and the former becomes quite painful to watch as a lot of competitors take AAAAGES on the obstacle. I'd replace either/both with a more fast-paced, far more failable obstacle to ween out the joke competitors as early as possible, like Shin-Sasuke and even earlier shows did successfully. It ain't the world's hardest obstacle course if anyone can get halfway through Stage 1. Controversially I'd 100% prioritise this over modifying Stage 2, given that despite Stage 2 being considered too stale or easy, it still does a good job at failing the fodder who get lucky. Stage 3 has just been revamped so not much to say on that. The Pipe Slider still being the final obstacle sucks, sure; I'd much rather have the original Flying Bar as the final obsatcle and the Ascending Drum Hopper as the first, but it's no longer anywhere near as unbalanced difficulty-wise as Stage 1 with the new modifications. Yeah I kind-of struggled with that but I wanted a distinction between ‘let’s see something brand new here somewhere’ and ‘I dislike this specifically and it needs to be buffed or it needs to go’ - it’s a bit janky but the alternative was a poll with way too many options xD I fully agree about Rolling Hill, it’s my No.1 target for deletion, but personally as someone who loves 90s style obstacle shows I just hate the current Stage 1 look (or lack thereof) so, so much. Absolutely the obstacles are more important than the trimming, but as someone who works in and studies art and film I do believe in the power of good presentation and Stage 1, frankly, sucks. I’m also an adamant Pipe Slider defender but I know that I seem to be in the minority on that! |
|
|
|
Post by m4tt3r0x on Jan 1, 2022 11:13:37 GMT -5
Stage 2 is such a bore. Everything else is bearable.
|
|
|
|
Post by dakohosu on Jan 1, 2022 11:46:27 GMT -5
Yeah I kind-of struggled with that but I wanted a distinction between ‘let’s see something brand new here somewhere’ and ‘I dislike this specifically and it needs to be buffed or it needs to go’ - it’s a bit janky but the alternative was a poll with way too many options xD I fully agree about Rolling Hill, it’s my No.1 target for deletion, but personally as someone who loves 90s style obstacle shows I just hate the current Stage 1 look (or lack thereof) so, so much. Absolutely the obstacles are more important than the trimming, but as someone who works in and studies art and film I do believe in the power of good presentation and Stage 1, frankly, sucks. I’m also an adamant Pipe Slider defender but I know that I seem to be in the minority on that! That is fair r/e the look of Stage 1. I think the main issue is that the biggest obstacle of the stage, the Dragon Glider, is just two metal tracks which is hard to make look fancy. Mind you, it is better looking than Sasuke 28 which was just the most bland looking course, especially compared to Shin-Sasuke. My personal gripe with the aesthetics is that the main colours of the course, those being red, yellow, and grey, just sort of don't go together but I suppose that's subjective? Shin-Sasuke was obviously all red but idk that just seemed to work a lot better for some reason. I wouldn't mind keeping the Pipe Slider as the final obstacle, but I think the main complaint is that the jump is just too easy. The end of Stage 3 needs to be the most nail-biting aspect of it, the 'you've done well to make it this far but can still f*** it up' sort of feeling, and that fundamentally comes down to the jump. The jump should've been even harder than the brutal Sasuke 14-17 version given that it's a 10+ year newer course that's harder in almost every other aspect. I mean Rene, who's not that tall (5'10), literally walked on to the landing platform lol. |
|
|
|
Post by ArbuthnotBlob on Jan 1, 2022 12:01:37 GMT -5
Yeah I kind-of struggled with that but I wanted a distinction between ‘let’s see something brand new here somewhere’ and ‘I dislike this specifically and it needs to be buffed or it needs to go’ - it’s a bit janky but the alternative was a poll with way too many options xD I fully agree about Rolling Hill, it’s my No.1 target for deletion, but personally as someone who loves 90s style obstacle shows I just hate the current Stage 1 look (or lack thereof) so, so much. Absolutely the obstacles are more important than the trimming, but as someone who works in and studies art and film I do believe in the power of good presentation and Stage 1, frankly, sucks. I’m also an adamant Pipe Slider defender but I know that I seem to be in the minority on that! That is fair r/e the look of Stage 1. I think the main issue is that the biggest obstacle of the stage, the Dragon Glider, is just two metal tracks which is hard to make look fancy. Mind you, it is better looking than Sasuke 28 which was just the most bland looking course, especially compared to Shin-Sasuke. My personal gripe with the aesthetics is that the main colours of the course, those being red, yellow, and grey, just sort of don't go together but I suppose that's subjective? Shin-Sasuke was obviously all red but idk that just seemed to work a lot better for some reason. I wouldn't mind keeping the Pipe Slider as the final obstacle, but I think the main complaint is that the jump is just too easy. The end of Stage 3 needs to be the most nail-biting aspect of it, the 'you've done well to make it this far but can still f*** it up' sort of feeling, and that fundamentally comes down to the jump. The jump should've been even harder than the brutal Sasuke 14-17 version given that it's a 10+ year newer course that's harder in almost every other aspect. I mean Rene, who's not that tall (5'10), literally walked on to the landing platform lol. It doesn’t even need to be fancy, per se, it just needs to be cohesive, which right now, it isn’t even quite managing! This is also the problem with covering over the warped wall(s) - sure, it’ll prevent rain wipe-outs, which seems wise if we keep the late-autumn tapings, but what’s that going to look like on camera? Unless someone comes up with a very smart solution it will look like crap! It’ll close the end of the stage right over, mess up those sweeping camera shots everyone likes and make actually shooting the stage harder - if you think visibility in the Backstream is poor, see how a 10ft+ tarp and struts get in the way! To make it work it would need careful positioning and to hide it, some strong theming, which is what I want anyhow, and I don’t feel like we’re going to get it xD The colour scheme right now is also poor, I’m not at my computer so I can’t check, but I suspect the red and the blue on the mats is actually at the same or a similar level of saturation (how they look in black and white) which is a big visual no-no, never mind the general garishness. As for the Pipe Slider, I feel it is iconic to SASUKE, and to be frank, I just don’t enjoy watching Flying Bar very much! By all means, buff the swing distance to the platform, but it is one of a couple obstacles I would be very sad to see outright replaced. |
|
|
|
Post by subtleagent on Jan 1, 2022 12:04:41 GMT -5
If I had to pick I'd probably say get rid of the Backstream since at this point it's completely counterproductive as well as the main reason Stage 2 had remained so stagnant.
Rolling Hill I personally think is more misplaced if any since obstacle 2 being such a time sink is tbh kind of boring. Pipe Slider either needs a buff or needs to be scrapped. I'm personally tired of it, but that's mostly because it's been nerfed badly. Salmon Ladder I wouldn't mind seeing scrapped altogether. We already have the Jugo Dan in the Final which IMO makes Stage 2's Salmon Ladder feel really outdated.
|
|
azn
Ishikawa Terukazu
"There's a time and place for everything... BUT NOT NOW!!!" - Prof. Oak
Posts: 455
|
Post by azn on Jan 1, 2022 15:17:10 GMT -5
Stage 2 really went from most loved to most hated within 1 year, but given they decided to do what they did, aside from the fact they didn't change it, that's fair.
However, because it's so easy to tweak stage 2 by literally changing the time limit significantly and maybe adding sandan drops and not modding the log to make it easier, I wouldn't prioritize changing it for now, never forget that people in chat thought that we were getting sk 19 part 2. While I'm not saying that could happen with this stage, similar results to sk 38 can easily be possible.
I picked new obstacle for Stage 1, kinda ties in with the rolling hill removal option but I've been tired of the quad to hill combo for a long time, that should've been replaced this tournament but it didn't, so hopefully it does next tournament
Also, 100% agree with the mention that stage 1 looks like crap. It could fit well for a kids version of Sasuke, but for the legit thing, that red and that blue together just looks terrible.
|
|
