Cleft of Dimensions Wiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:Prompt

2022-10-29T03:13:04Z

E-mouse:

Hi! Please drop your prompt examples here, along with a brief explanation for each section. We'll chew through 'em, clean 'em up; and then re-post them on the main article. ---Sunny

HP:{R%h/{r%H {cMP:{B%m/{b%M {cMV:%v Pet: {Y%p/{y%P {R%f {R%O {c| {R%u %U{c %L Remorts, XP Needed:%X Room: %C

Well-labelled but pretty long - made for Project Tuna
--- E-mouse

Talk:Prompt

2022-10-29T03:12:46Z

E-mouse:

Hi! Please drop your prompt examples here, along with a brief explanation for each section. We'll chew through 'em, clean 'em up; and then re-post them on the main article. ---Sunny

HP:{R%h/{r%H {cMP:{B%m/{b%M {cMV:%v Pet: {Y%p/{y%P {R%f {R%O {c| {R%u %U{c %L Remorts, XP Needed:%X Room: %C
Well-labelled but pretty long - made for Project Tuna
--- E-mouse

Classes

2021-07-04T09:03:26Z

E-mouse: Survey availability was changed somewhere along the line

The main goal of the Cleft of Dimensions is, very simply, to kill monsters to gain levels and then taking their stuff to kill more monsters. There are lots of ways to accomplish this broad goal, which have been sorted into eight distinct character Classes. Each Class has the choice at level thirty(30) to Evolve, or specialize, into an upgraded version of their class that focuses on particular aspects of the original class.

In no particular order, here are the Classes; sorted by Tier-1 classes with their Tier-2 choices underneath them.

*[[Knight]]: Use a big metal shield to keep people from killing you and taking your stuff.
**[[Cavalier]]: They say that the best offense* is a good defense.
**[[Templar]]: People try to kill you, which only makes you stronger, so you kill them.

*[[Warrior]]: Use a weapon to kill people till they die, and take their stuff.
**[[Warlord]]: Use any weapon and fancy moves to kill people, and take their stuff.
**[[Gladiator]]: Use wrestling moves and Super-combos to kill people and take their stuff.

*[[Thief]]: Take people's stuff, then kill them afterwards.
**[[Ninja]]: Sneak up on people, kill them, and take their stuff.
**[[Merchant]]: Buy stuff from people, kill them, and get your money back.

*[[Wizard]]: Use magical fireballs to kill people and take their stuff.
**[[Archmage]]: Master the fine art of spell-casting to make super spells to kill people and take their stuff.
**[[Elementalist]]: Harness the raw power of mana to kill everything in the room and take their stuff.

*[[Priest]]: Keep yourself and your friends from being killed and your stuff taken.
**[[Shaman]]: Transform yourself into an avatar of might and kill people and take their stuff.
**[[Surgeon]]: Use Zombify and lots of healing magic to kill(?) people and take their stuff.

*[[Summoner]]: You and your magical friends kill people and take their stuff.
**[[Necromancer]]: Kill people, take their stuff, then animate their corpses to kill more people.
**[[Dollmage]]: A powerful magic golem kills people for you and you take their stuff.

*[[Geomancer]]: Kill people and take the stuff that belonged to mother earth in the first place.
**[[Terraformer]]: Sometimes people die of natural causes and now their stuff is yours.
**[[Time Mage]]: Forsee that peoples' stuff belongs to you, then kill them and take it.

*[[Dancer]]: Bewitch and beguile your foes into killing themselves so you can take their stuff.
**[[Gambler]]: Cheat at games to win other peoples' stuff, with their life as the ante.
**[[Diva]]: Demand that others give you their stuff, then kill themselves because you're bored.

**[[Vampire]]: Forget the stuff and take people's blood instead, which kills them.
( * Way to kill people and take their stuff )

== Class Table ==
The abilities listed here are always on, just by being a character of that class. No skills are involved and you can't [[remort]] these abilities over to a different class.
{| border = 1
! Class !! Primary Stat !! HP per level !! MP per level !! [[Weapon Skills|Weapon choices]] !! Specials
|-
| [[Knight]] || STR || 12 - 15 || 1 - 1 || 3 ||
|-
| [[Warrior]] || STR || 9 - 12 || 1 - 1 || 3 ||
|-
| [[Thief]] || DEX || 7 - 10 || 1 - 1 || 1* || Thieves can Scan into dark rooms if the room they're in is lit. They also don't lose experience when fleeing from combat.
|-
| [[Wizard]] || INT || 6 - 9 || 7 - 10 || 1 ||
|-
| [[Priest]] || WIS || 7 - 10 || 4 - 7 || 2 || Priests can sacrifice piles of [[money]] to recover their mana at a rate of 1 mana per 50 silver.
|-
| [[Summoner]] || CON || 9 - 12 || 2 - 4 || 2 || Summoners can have one more follower than any other class (3)
|-
| [[Geomancer]] || WIS || 7 - 10 || 4 - 7 || 2 || Geomancers get an improved survey command, with more information on the room they are in.
|-
| [[Dancer]] || DEX || 7 - 10 || 2 - 4 || 2 ||
|}
* Thieves get Short Piercing for free, plus one other [[weapon skill]] of their choice.

{{Classes}}

[[Category:Technical Information]]
[[Category:Classes| ]]

November 2019: Phendrana Drifts

2019-12-01T14:44:30Z

E-mouse: Emouse AotM submission

Area of the Month for November 2019 is [[Phendrana_Drifts|Phendrana Drifts]]!

A template format for your review is below; click 'edit' at the top of the page, copy-pasta from the <nowiki>----</nowiki> to the next <nowiki>----</nowiki>, and fill in the gaps!

('''''Yes,''''' a wiki account is required to edit the page and therefore post your review, but take heart: The wiki is hosted by the Cleft itself, not a third party!

----

'''Player: You!(Class/Level)'''

'''Review Date(s): '''

'''Descriptions: X/10'''

How does the area's room descriptions(descs) work for you? Do they give you a good idea of the area? Do things that stand out in the desc and NEED explanation GET that, either from flavor text(extra-descs) or NPCs in the room or anything?

What about mobiles(mobs) and their descriptions? Can you get a decent mental image of who or what this NPC/monster is? Do they respond when you talk or interact with them?

Some areas have interact-able objects like fountains. Do they stack up well also?

'''Balance: X/10 (OR N/A)'''

(NOTE: combat will be most accurately gauged when your character is in the area's suggested level range.)

If this area has combat, how does it feel? Does anything jump as horribly overpowered and impossible to deal with? What about the flipside, anything far too easy to beat?

Are purchased or rewarded items at the appropriate strength levels? Is the effort required to obtain rewarded items reflected in their usefulness (or uniqueness and fancifulness)

'''Attractions: X/10'''

Why would you suggest someone come to this area?
Is it just a good place to grind experience(lots of mobs)?
Does the area provide a chunk of good gold and loot?

What about the quests? Does this area's quests feel properly done, or is there some part of it that you feel needs work?

For towns, are the shops good? Any other non-combative attraction for the area?

'''Connections: X/10 '''

How easily and well does this area connect to its nearby areas?
Does it make sense thematically to be connected to the areas it is?

'''Personal'''

Any comments you'd like to make that you don't feel apply to the other sections can go here!

----

'''Player: Abaril'''

'''Review Date(s): 11/30/19'''

'''Descriptions: 8/10'''

Describing a barren, frozen white wasteland is difficult and has the potential to go two routes: either to ''really'' try to oversell the emptiness and overwhelm with walls of white text to match the walls of white ice or to keep it simple and convey the sparseness and solitude by making the rooms match. I feel that the builder has chosen the latter and that it's fairly effective. The rooms on the surface make the area feel cold and lonely--all the while being well-written and typo-free. The more important rooms, such as those focusing on the various quests in the area, tend to elaborate more and provide nice atmosphere.

The various mobs are very well-described. My favorite has to be: "Its organs can be seen pulsing gently under its transparent skin." That's a very vivid and slightly creepy way to give you a mental picture of the thing that's attacking the hell out of you, if you have time to read it before one or the other of you dies.

'''Balance: 8/10'''

I have a feeling this will be a minority opinion, but I absolutely ''love'' the Sheegoths--how difficult they can be and how batshit crazy they are. I think the Cleft needs more of this type of mob, and that when you have '''BIG RED DANGER''' signs, they should absolutely mean it. There should be difficult areas that challenge you and make you want to get better. I know that my own first encounter with a Sheegoth led me to a quick trip to the necromancer and made me understand that sometimes the signs are in place for a reason. Aside from those and McNeils' goblins though, there hasn't been much of that type of experience. It's one of the reasons I do have a fondness for Phendrana that probably doesn't quite match the size and scope of the zone itself. The other mobs inside are obviously not as interesting or as challenging, but they aren't pushovers either. Being spammed with gigadrains when you are slightly underlevel for the area can be quite deadly in its own right. Since Phendrana is rather small overall though, the mob density is rather low, meaning it's probably not one of the most effective places to choose for leveling.

TL;DR Needs more Sheegoth

'''Attractions: 4/10'''

This is definitely where the Drifts are lacking. I'm not sure if Phendrana is one of the older zones of the Cleft, but it definitely has the ''feel'' of being so. The four different quests are interesting and, at times, cute, but they're not really worth repeating once you've seen them. I had fun doing "satiated the hungry hungry Saiyan" quest, and the "looted and then escaped the statue chamber" leading up to "defeated the rampaging earth elemental" was also fairly intuitive and had some enjoyable moments. None of them, however, had rewards that I would say makes them fall into the "must-do" category for every life. The drops in the zone are also fairly underwhelming. I do give Phendrana some credit for all of the quests and hidden spaces being fairly intuitive to find.

'''Connections: 9/10 '''

You can't really penalize Phendrana for having rather limited connections, because it's designed to be on the far reaches of the Cleft. Even with that being said though, it is a fairly high traffic area. It connects two of the most popular leveling zones, plus has a secret or two that make it worth revisiting even after players hit max level. It's a little bit of a hike from the nearest owlite statue or default housing portal, but that's to be expected with the type of zone it was designed to be.

'''Personal'''

Even with some of the criticisms in this review, I find myself quite liking Phendrana overall. I love the danger and resistance mechanic on the Sheegoths, and I think the world needs more crazy-ass aggro mobs like them. There really should be the feel for danger behind warning signs like the one leading to the zone, and I would support the addition of more of that type of aggression in higher level places! The area has a lot of potential to be a superstar, but for now, I think it's mostly used as a way to get from point A on one side of it to point B on the other. I would love to see its levels increased, along with mob density and possibly even mob aggression. There's so much competition in the level 61-70 areas, that it sadly cannot shine like it ought to. If it was bumped up to the 75-85 range though, and given a couple more mobs and maybe a nice rare drop or two, it could be a very relevant place and naturally progress into the zone that leads most people through the Drifts in the first place!

----

'''Player:''' Emouse (Dollmage, level 100, 35 remorts)

'''Review Date(s): 11/18/2019-12/1/2019''' (with many diversions)

'''Descriptions: 7/10'''

Room descriptions in Phendrana are mostly plain and dry: Hard to fault considering how the place is a barren wasteland tundra. Extra descs for things in the room are also sparse, which is a bit unfortunate: They'd be a good opportunity to spice things up with sass or low-relevance details. Generally low-detail, but functional.

--

On the other hand, there's quite a bit of life in the mob descriptions: A mix of sass, wordplay, and flavorful details are sprinkled among the mob descriptions to keep things interesting if you're focused on the creatures in the area.
Unfortunately, most of them are only pretty to look at: Many mobs in the area that feel like they could have talk responses do not. Ice Beetle, flappity Zubat, brass statue, The Ripper, and The Ripper II all could be considered animate enough to respond (or at least, have an echo acknowleding that they don't) but... don't.

The walrus hunter and his prey are pretty good, though: The prey using an item as part of its mobprog is an interesting way to change the display, but may have unintended side effects.

There's also a chest squirreled away in a somewhat hidden room that I'm not sure has a key: If it's supposed to be a pick lock reward, should the look description mention something suggesting that the key may not be available?

--

The quest progression here is a little oblique but makes decent sense; I wish I understood what the hidden console was trying to say a little better, and there's a remote door unlock that might deserve a ptuna "unlock" SFX code...
The real weakness is after you grab the item guarded beyond the console (not sure if you can skip the boss fight or not): Nothing indicates that there's more to do after obtaining it, until you decide to hold onto it and wander into the right room. Maybe updating the lookdesc for something there to have a matching symbol or something would be good?

'''Balance:''' approx '''7/10''' for combat; '''4/10''' for equipment/rewards

Gamplay-wise, Phendrana feels a like it was designed with thieves in mind: The lockpick-only (I think?) hidden chest, a quest that can be done with stolen items, the Sheegoths rewarding Hide/Sneak/Invis, and a boss that might be possible to skip with Palm... unfortunately, the nature of sheegoths make the enforcement feel harsh, and the (logically) limited payoff doesn't make it very tempting to deal with.

Yes, ambushing a Sheegoth does leave you at an advantage... until another Sheegoth shows up during the fight and attacks. It'd be fair to double-down on "then flee and reengage" as Thief encouragement, but that doesn't help when Sheegoths' frozen touch breath also leaves you unable to flee while getting pummeled - meaning they're scary even if you try to avoid them entirely to pick on the beetles nearby.

- Multi-sheegoth ambushes can be legitimately threatening even at high level, especially at lower remorts and/or with outdated gear. In a way this is appropriate considering the high-level content accessible through Phendrana, but it means levelling here is super dangerous. I don't know if the sheegoths have an XP multiplier to counter this... but that may be too generous for someone in a position to take advantage of it.

As obstacles, sheegoths are a neat and solidly flavorful threat, but they're not enemies you want to actually fight. And since you can't avoid sheegoths entirely, you probably don't want to fight much else here, either.

The combat here is moderately but not overwhelmingly harsh - for a zone intended to be dangerous, it's fitting. The problem is that it's not really worth it.

--

Which leads into how I feel the items here are a weak point: There's gear here that has stats, some for obscure slots or with obscure traits... but for the level and danger they're either underwhelming or have substantial downsides. The shield and projectile weapon are exceptionally heavy (though the stats are OK), the combat stats on the accessories are unimpressive (but have some uncommon niche uses), and the consumables aren't really powerful or reusable enough to warrant keeping around.

- The easiest comparison is to the Gold City equipment: The stuff you can get in Phendrana is roughly scaled to match based on level and weight... but I'm under the impression that equipment you have you hunt for is normally supposed to be better than storebought. Then again, the Gold City stuff is marked up tremendously, so... it's tough to say.

There is one sort-of exception: The item you get for completing the main quest in the area has poor equip stats for wearing, but its use as an event is fairly unique and the cooldown makes it available pretty often. But... the two effects I've seen from it cover very different niches, making it unreliable. It's interesting and definitely has *A* use, but it's not especially impressive.

- However, it does feel like it has...'plot' or story importance beyond Phendrana alone. I could see it being a prerequisite for things elsewhere (which would be VERY interesting) but either I've never found it or it hasn't been implemented. I remember a conversation with Ageatii about there being more intended for it, but I'm not sure what that is/should be. Something for broader lore to prioritize, maybe?

The equipment here isn't useless, just... underwhelming for how intimidating sheegoths' ambushes, resists, and freeze breath are to discover any of it, and don't really resell well enough to warrant carrying off. It's usable if it's what you find, but it's not worth going out of the way for.

'''Attractions: 3/10'''

Phendrana is not an attractive place to visit. Both the drops and quest rewards are generally underwhelming, the cash rewards are weak, and the mob population/variety don't really counteract the relative danger of the area.
In particular, the reduced regen makes life difficult for most classes (especially at low remorts) and while the cash drops of Always 0 make logical sense, they do make the place less attractive.

The equipment drops are in an awkward position: Access to Phendrana is less restrictive than a lot of other areas in the level range so it makes sense for the selection to be less impressive... but it's also fairly dangerous to fight through. I don't know if they're in the right place as "eh, filler" for the range in light of that, or deserve boosts to account for the danger.

Still, the process of the main quest sequence is decent: The brass statue encounter, Rippers, and the endboss are all neat setpeices and flow well enough, but the architecture around them is weak. It's fun to experience once after combat in the area is no longer an issue, but there's not much reason to revisit.

There are... other experiences that send you to Phendrana, but more often you're passing through the place in search of something else, rather than visiting Phendrana for Phendrana. Depending on whether Phendrana is supposed to be an obstacle for reaching that content or an area worth visiting on its own merits, that may be worth addressing.

'''Connections: 9/10 '''

Another awkward segment: Physically, Phendrana is an isolated dead-end, connected to Frosty Forest by a single obvious, marked exit - makes sense geographically, so no problem there. No hidden exits or special movement is required to reach it from the main cities, so it's relatively easy to find and/or stumble upon... but you can't really get anywhere from it. When you visit Phendrana it's for something in Phendrana, rather than to reach somewhere else. There's one important place inside of Phendrana to unlock after visiting another high-level area, but that's about it. In the far north Phendrana does end up reaching the northern shore of the continent... but it's not really a launching point to go seafaring. Yet, perhaps?

In terms of integration to the broader Cleft, Phendrana is in okay shape considering its status as barren wasteland: Most of the area is based on the series of origin, but there's also a walrus from Todo hunting, two types of pokemon that are suitable for the environment, a stray Saiyan on an unwitting adventure, and a Reploid-series item relevant in the main quest. Integration references are sparse, but probably about as good as you'll get for a barren wasteland.

'''Bugs/Exploits:'''

The "the freezing water" mob for water areas isn't flagged 'passive' - its HP still displays, though it can't be fought or given items.

Spheals can fail to use their ice ball item: I'm not sure if this is intentional, incidental, or desired. It's an interesting way to change up the text for the attack and make skill% modifiers relevant, though - I like the idea.

Probably me being overly thorough, but: The Walrus Hunter doesn't react if you give him a Spheal corpse, which is a little weird considering that he picks them up as part of the WALRUS POWER event. Not sure this is realistic to identify and react accordingly or just an excuse to purge the corpse so there isn't a mountain them in the room.

The way Zubats initiate combat in the caverns is weird: An echo appears about them attacking, but they don't actually fight immediately - the next pulse(?) they cast Giga Drain and initiate combat with that. I don't know if they should attempt to bite normally first or if this is part of some special handling, but it feels weird. Working as intended?

Something I tried to take advantage of but didn't find worthwhile: The Missile Rack drop has a wear level of 0, but casts level 70 Magic Missile as a staff. Between the low charges and the relative weakness of Magic Missile, it didn't overly impress or feel overpowered for remorting alongside Recharge, but I can definitely see it being unintentional. Worth a look.

It's very easy to get locked on the 'wrong' side of the door in the west of Phendrana: The item that acts as a key for it only responds from the exterior side of the door, and can be melt_dropped... and I think its upgrade makes it into a different vnum as well. Very possible to get trapped, but at least you can recall or drown yourself in the water (unless you're a Kirby).

'''Overall: B-'''

Phendrana is a "servicable, but not impressive" sort of area: Things are generally functional and usable, but nothing's outstanding enough to warrant spending too much time here relative to other options. It has a few nice moments and high-level players will be passing through for Reasons, but Phendrana itself has a hard time earning attention. Aside from the universal bond of learning about Sheegoths the hard way.

'''Recommendations:'''

Extra descs for rooms in Phendrana are sparse: Adding more would liven the place up a little.

Several animate mobs don't respond to being talked to: Worth updating to standards, even if it's with something generic?

I've never found any hints for how to open the western door near the entrance. Updating the extra desc about the iris/door with something hinting to try bringing something from the people involved in the technology here would help: Maybe a scanner that the extra desc mentions doesn't react to your character but raises the suggestion of bringing something from the area that the door's designers would acknowledge?

The hidden chest is unclear about whether a key for it is/would be realistically available: In other places, I've seen descriptions of the condition or style of the lock to accomplish this. Maybe update the lookdesc to indicate "yeah, you're gonna have to force this" if it's picklock only?

The main quest reward here has a utility function and a situational combat function: Having some way to better control which happens would make it more reliable. Options: whether the user is in combat? What kind of target is selected? Both all the time?

- It also has some promise for plot relevance as a prerequisite for more Interesting things down the line or in other zones/circumstances: Implementation and/or hints at where to look for these (and whatever they may lead to) would also be cool, but probably beyond the scope of what reviews are looking for.

Consider revisiting equipment stats for the region: The hidden shoes probably have an okay niche, but the drops and quest rewards don't impress. Improvements for the bracelet and ring are probably worth considering; smaller boosts may be warranted for the Ice Shield and Spazer Rifle's high weight; the eastern boss' drops end up of limited use.

The far side of the western door has functional puzzles/combat, but ineffective escape routes: Make sure the unlock from 'inside' is operating correctly?

----

[[Category:Area of the Month]]

Immortal Shops

2019-10-29T01:25:22Z

E-mouse: Fixed grammar on Ageatii Tea Shop entry conditions, added "unique" marker to Token of Expansion

For the sake of vanity, various staff members have set up shops that you can only access by trading in an immortal token. Some of these shops are hidden somewhere in the cleft, others require contacting an immortal.

===Tea House of Ageatii===
Hidden somewhere in the cleft, the Tea House of Ageatii can be accessed by trading in a clay cup of ageatea. A bank is present inside the shop for your convenience, but make sure you buy everything you came here for before leaving! The shop keeper, the Basilisk Ronin offers the following items:

* Steel Fist Sake (1)
: Cost: 300g Level: 50 Weight: 0lbs
:: It is a potion with the level 50 spells of Attack Up, Encore and Encore

* Steel Soul Sake
: Cost: 300g Level: 50 Weight: 0lbs
:: It is a potion with the level 50 spells of Protect, Encore and Encore

* Rare Ores Grab Bag (%)
: Cost: 500g Level: 0 Charges: 3 Cooldown: 0 minutes Weight: 0lbs
:: It is an event that randomly creates rare crafting materials.

* Masterball (%)
: Cost: 750g Level: 65 Charges: -1 Cooldown: 2 minutes Weight: 1lbs
:: It is an event that will charm and enslave the target, unless it is immune to charm or you already have a pet. It will then vanish.

* Piece of Heart (x)(!)
: Cost: 1500g Level: 0 Weight: 0lbs
:: If you get four of these it will give you an additional 50 max HP.

* Organ of the Evening Calm (m)
: Cost: 2000g Level: 40 Cooldown: 10 minutes Weight: 2lbs
:: It is a rod that can be worn as a shield and it casts a level 150 spell of Calm. It also affects HP by +150 and affects armor class by -40. This is an instrument that can affect Harvest Sprites, too.

* Warp Whistle
: Cost: 4000g Level: 0 Charges: 100 Cooldown: 0 minutes Weight: 1lbs
:: It is an event that will call forth a spiraling vortex that carries you to a warp zone. The warp zone has pipes leading down to many locations around the world.

* Dainty Cup of Ageatea (!)(x)(*)
: Cost: 6000g Level: 0 Weight: 0lbs
:: It is a handy and weightless fountain of tea.

* Stone Mask (!)
: Cost: 10,000g Level: 60 Weight: 2lbs
:: Wearing this mask makes you permanently invisible(unless you enter a fight like the spell) but also makes you vulnerable to weapons, magic and degrades your dexterity by 4. With great power comes...Great weakness?

=== The Wigglytuff Store (Carsanquay)===
[[Wigglytuff]], the mysterious entity, will sell you these items for a frightening amount of gold and a tuna token. This shop requires an immortal to load Wigglytuff, so send an immortal a tell when you're willing to purchase an item. Each item costs 1 tuna token and its gold amount.

* the wand of banishment (*)
: Cost: 1,500g Level: 0 Weight: 3lbs
:: This wand will send the target to a twisted void of shadow and horror. It will disappear when exhausted.
:* It has 40 (max 40) charges of level 100 'Xzone'.

* Lobster Power
: Cost: 3,000g Level: 0 Weight: 1lb
:: This staff, worn on the wrist, will enhance your power. It protects the wearer with a mystical barrier of thorns, enable the wearer to swim, make them slightly tougher, and possibly improve their love life. Or not.
:* This staff improves Constitution by 2, Damroll by 5, AC by -10, adds Swim, and grants the Thorn Shield effect.
:* It has 20 charges of level 50 'Attack Up'.

* a lazy shell
: Cost: 3,000g Level: 0 Weight: 35lbs
:: This huge shell is worn on the torso. It makes the user a little tougher, but makes it harder to move freely. You could easily carry junk in this.
:* This container improves Constitution by 1, worsens Dexterity by 2, and improves AC by -15. It's also a container, which can hold up to 10000 items weighing up to 10000 pounds, in total. The weight of all those items is reduced to 10% of their normal value.

* a minivan
: Cost: 6,000g Level: 60 (70 to purchase) Weight: 25lbs
::* This is a van. You can ride in it! Sweet! Insanely strong people can also hulk out and use this as a weapon. Ouch. I don't even want to think about what that would do to your premiums.
:* A minivan is a level 60 vehicle with seating for 8. It ignores move, and, when wielded as a weapon, affects dexterity by -4, damage roll by 70, armor class by -9,and hit roll by 100. WHAM!

* the pratfallotron
: Cost: 2,250g Level: 0 Weight: 2 lbs
:: This item can be held. What it does is a mystery.

===The Bountiful Garden Cafe & Gift Shop (Lilly)===
The lovely waitstaff of this cafe have plenty to offer,
both food and trinkets alike, as long as you have a Bag
of Grass Seed (and plenty of gold) to exchange in return!
This shop is hidden somewhere in the cleft and costs a single Bag of Grass Seed to enter. A bank is present, so be sure not to leave the shop until you've purchased everything you came here for!

====Cafe====

* A Bountiful Garden designer tote bag
: Cost: 2000g, Level: 8, Weight: 2lbs
:: Elegant and sturdy, this thing holds a lot!
:* Weight Cap: 300lbs, Item Cap: 120, Weight Reduction: 40%
:* Can be held or worn over the shoulder! AC -5, Moves +50, Wis & Int +1

* A Bountiful Garden designer canteen
: Cost: 1000g, Level: 1, Weight: 1lbs
:: One of our best-selling souvenirs!
:* Holds 250 units of liquid, starting with pre-filled root beer.
:* Can be held, HP & Mana +20

* A Caramel Mocha Latte
: Cost: 500g, Level: 50, Weight: 0lbs
:: Great for those who need a quick pick-me-up (and we do mean "quick")!
:* This is a single-use potion with Lv110 spells of "Haste", "Regen" & "Extension"

* An Angelic Energy Drink
: Cost: 650g, Level: 50, Weight: 0lbs
:: Downing one of these is guaranteed to bring about a heavenly experience!
:* This is a single-use potion with Lv80 spells of "Attack Up", "Valor", & "Seraph Form"

* A Slice of Bountiful Garden Cafe's Cherry Cheesecake
: Cost: 50g, Level 5, Weight: 0lbs
:: The signature treat of the Bountiful Garden Cafe! Few leave without having tried some at least once!
:* This is food that provides 15 hours of satiation and 7 hours of fullness.
:* Also heals the consumer by ~450 HP!

* A Whole Bountiful Garden Cafe's Cherry Cheesecake
: Cost: 200g, Level: 5, Weight 1lbs
:: Why stop at just one slice when you can have the whole thing?
:* This is a useable item that creates a slice of cheesecake when activated.
:* Provides 6 slices total, and is no-recharge.

====Gift Shop====

* A Bountiful Garden 'Vol Wolf' Essence Bulb (!)(%)(m)(1)
: Cost: 4000g, Level: 50, Weight: 0lbs
:: A faithful companion for the more-traveled adventurer. Shockingly loyal!
:* This is a useable item that will summon a Lv50 'Vol Wolf' as a pet.
:* It has 1 charge, but does not disappear when exhausted.

* A Bountiful Garden 'Rappy' Essence Bulb (!)(%)(m)(1)
: Cost: 2500g, Level: 30, Weight: 0lbs
:: A cute companion for the seasoned, but not super-experienced, traveler. Cuddly in its own way!
:* This is a useable item that will summon a Lv30 'Rappy' as a pet.
:* It has 1 charge, but does not disappear when exhausted.

* An Adventurously-Cut, Pale Rose Tube Top (!)(%)(1)
: Cost: 3800g, Level: 15, Weight: 1lbs
:: Sleek and provocative, worn only by the most outgoing of ladies. Designed by our resident succubus, Natalie!
:* This is a wand-type item that can be worn on the torso and is flagged AntiMale.
:* AC +25, Hitroll +5, Damroll +10, Magroll+5, Mana +100
:* Contains 20 charges of Lv50 'Charm'

*(Bountiful Garden) Rose Dress Shoes (!)
: Cost: 3200g, Level: 20, Weight: 1lbs
:: Cute in their presentation and easy to move around in! These are the standard footwear apparel for our waitstaff.
:* This is a wand-type item that can be worn on the feet and is flagged AntiMale.
:* AC -20, Int/Wis+1, Dex +2, Mana +50, Magroll+2
:* Contains 30 charges of Lv120 'Mana Restore'

* (Bountiful Garden) A Pleated, Dark Rose Dress Skirt (!)
: Cost: 3000g, Level: 30, Weight: 1lbs
:: Stylish and elegant, this classy skirt is the standard legwear apparel for our waitstaff.
:*This is an armor that can be worn on the legs and is flagged AntiMale.
:* AC: 38 pierce/slash/bash, 45 Magic
:* Int & Wis +1, HP/Mana/Mov +50, Magroll+3
:* Adds resistance to iron & silver

* (Bountiful Garden) A Ruffle-Sleeved, Rose-Hued Blouse (!)
: Cost: 3000g, Level: 30, Weight: 1lbs
:: Professional with a touch of grace, this pretty blouse is the standard upperwear apparel for our waitstaff.
:* This is an armor that can be worn on the torso and is flagged AntiMale.
:* AC: 38 pierce/slash/bash, 45 magic
:* Int & Wis +1, HP/Mana/Mov +50, Magroll+3
:* Adds resistance to charm & mental

* A Soft and Cuddly Flammie Plushie (!) (1)
: Cost: 8000g, Level: 85, Weight: 1lbs
:: A soft, furry and squishy representation of the gentle Manabeast herself. A strong magical aura surrounds this toy; known to bring happiness to those who can afford one!
:* This is a wand-type item that can be held.
:* Mov +150, Mana/HP +250, Damroll/Magroll/Hitroll +5, Str & Wis +1
:* Contains 20 charges of Lv100 'Float'

* A Giant Sunflower Pillow (!)(1)
: Cost: 3500g, Level: 12, Weight: 3lbs
:: A bright decoration to throw around the house, yet sturdy enough to bring into combat!
:* This is a furniture-type item that increases HP/Mana regen rates by 300%,
:* can hold one person, and can be worn as a shield.
:* HP +75, Con +3, AC -20, Mana +30

* A Golden Ankh of Venus (!)(%)(1)
: Cost: 2500g, Level: 30, Weight: 0lbs
:: A symbol of the female gender itself, this trinket is guaranteed to turn your world upside down! Or is it inverted? We're not too sure, really. Has a unique effect if used with the full Bountiful Garden Waitress' ensemble.
:* This is a useable item that can be worn around the neck. When used, it will cast Lv30 'Change Sex' & 'Extension' on the user if a target is not selected, or a specified player if one is selected.
:* It has unlimited charges, with a cooldown of 3 minutes.
:* Wis & Int +2, Mana +50

* A Flammie Jetbike (!)(1)
: Cost: 6800g, Level: 50, Weight: 5lbs
:: Highly prized and consistently ranked at the top of most customers' "Most-Wanted" lists, this blazing vehicle boasts speed and durability, as well as easy carrying ability when not in use!
:* This is a vehicle that is ignores movement during usage, is fast, and flying. It can hold 2 people, and can be worn on the body.
:* Damroll +3, AC -10, HP +75, Mana +50, Mov +100

* A Piece of Mind (!)(x)
: Cost: 1500g, Level: 1, Weight: 0lbs
:: The long-awaited counterpart to the Piece of Heart, obtaining four of these will boost your maximum Mana by 50!
:* Collect four of these and turn them in to an Immortal to obtain +50 Max Mana.

* A Token of Expansion (!)(x)(1)
: Cost: 3500g, Level: 1, Weight: 0lbs
:: Bigger houses, more room, happier guests! This token allows you to expand your house space by one room. Useful when you just don't have enough restring tokens (damn that stingy Lilly)!
:* Give this token to an Immortal in charge of Player Housing to waive the cost of 1 room! Mobs, objects, and anything else not included.

* A Token of Conversion (!)(x)(1)
: Cost: 3000g, Level: 85, Weight: 0lbs
:: You ask, and we answered! This token allows an adventurer to exchange 50 practice sessions for 5 training sessions! The power involved is a fickle one, however, and only one of these may be used per incarnation!
:* This is a useable item that will deduct 50 practices and bestow 5 trains to the user. The player is then flagged for the playthrough, and may not use another one until reaching the appropriate level of their next remort session.

* A Token of Exchange
: Cost: 2500g, Level: 50, Weight: 0lbs
:: Did you pick the wrong weaponskill? Are you tired of the one you DID pick and yearn for something else? We've got you covered! Simply exchange this trinket to Lilly to exchange your old weaponskill for a new one (at 50% of the original's "learned" percentage rate)!
:* This is an exchangeable that will trade one weaponskill of your choice for a new one. The new weaponskill will be bestowed at half the learned rate of the one being swapped out.

=<(The Magician's Trick)>=
If you've received a black silk top hat with a red velvet band, you can visit Ozlynn's magical shop! By dropping the hat and entering it (which will promptly pick it back up), you can freely purchase these 4 items:

* A Magikoopa Kap (1)
: Cost: 750g, Level: 16, Weight: 4 lbs
:: Use this hat to recall with style and hustle your goods to unsuspecting citizens, like a true Magikoopa! (Do not use in nonsmoking areas)
:* This hat is an event that boosts INT by 1 and Mana by 30. It has 4 charges of recall.

* A solid brick of cheese
: Cost: 100g, Level:1, Weight: 10 lbs
:: This big brick of cheese will provide 5 hours of satiation and 20 hours of fullness, but be warned: Eating 10 pounds of cheese in a single sitting might cause one to feel lethargic.

* A twinkle, twinkle little star
: Cost: 60g, Level: 5, Weight: 1 lbs
:* This little star will guide you through darkness forever!.. Or at least 240 hours, whichever comes first. It affects Mana by 10 and saves by -2

* A fancy bottle of orange juice
: Cost: 320g, Level: 10, Weight 3 lbs
:: Start your day out right. Start your day with orange juice!
:* This is a drink container that holds 95 units, starting with orange juice.

===For Serious Magicians===
These items can only be purchased by trading in a tophat for each transaction. Magical!

* A Personal Dimension
: Cost: 6,200g, Level 30, Weighing 1 lbs.
:: Holds 15 items weighing up to 10,000 pounds, Reducing weight by 100%
:: Worn in float slot
:* Adds regeneration, HP/Mana/MV +110

* A Warp Star
: Cost: 14,500g, Level 90 vehicle, Weighing 20 lbs.
:: Holds 2 people, affects regen by 100%
:: Fast, flying, indoors and ignores MV
:: Worn in shield slot
:* Affects hitroll by -3, AC -45, damroll +16, HP/Mana +120
:: Note: It cannot be used by mobs

* A pair of hypno-goggles (%)
: Cost: 3,600 Level 35 event, weighing 2 lbs
:: Has 100(max 100) charges with a cooldown of 120 minutes, with norecharge
::Worn in face slot
:: It will hypnotize/tame the target, then enslave them!
:* Affects Con +2, AC -10, HP +40

* A shiny cummerbund (%)
: Cost: 13,500g, Level 50 rod, Weighing 0 lbs.
:: Casts level 50 Dazzle, with a 10 minute cooldown.
:: Worn in waist slot
:* Affects AC -10, Mana +150, HP +50

* A large, striped bow tie (!)
: Cost: 12,500g, Level 80 rod, Weighing 1 lbs.
:: Casts level 10 Charge, with a 5 minute cooldown, with norecharge
:: Worn in neck slot
:* Affects AC -5, HP +60, Mana +380, WIS +2, Int +2

* A pair of glossy tap dancing shoes (!)
: Cost: 11,000g Level 35 event, weighing 4 lbs.
:: Has infinite charges with a 20 minute cooldown, with norecharge
:: Worn in feet slot
:: Tap dance in ways that might make you kick, break someone's heart, or get pumped and charged!
:* Affects HP +30, Mana +40, AC -20, MV +100, dex +2

* A flashy black suede cape, lined in red silk
: Cost: 10,500g, Level 38 rod, weighing 8 lbs.
:: Casts level 15 Invisibility, with a 30 minute cooldown, with norecharge
:: Worn in about slot
:*Affects AC -16, MV +30, Mana +110, HP +105, adds float
:: Note: It cannot be used by mobs

* A sterling silver cufflink (!)
: Cost: 1000g, Level 0 staff, weighing 0 lbs.
:: Has 20(max 25) charges of level 40 Haste
:: Worn in wrist slot
:* Affects damroll/hitroll +5, Ac -10, dex +2, adds ice shield

* A Disco Star
: Cost: 8,000g, Level 1.
:* Summons a temporary float item and a temporary light item for a super boost!

* A false memory (x)
: Cost 15,000g, Level 0, weighing 0 lbs.
:: Give this memory to Ozlynn and have her jam it into your head, but be warned, she'll take a memory in exchange!
:* Trade in a skill NOT in your current class, which you remorted into the class you are now, for another skill of another class.
:* The skill you wish to receive may not be a qspell, megamagic, a style(for simplicity's sake), or a skill that's outside what the current classes have available to them.
:* Other restrictions may apply.

= The Black Market (Cooper) =
Hidden somewhere in the Cleft, the bartender of The Thieves' Den will accept a coin made of pyrite featuring the smug grinning mug of Cooper himself for access to The Black Market. Certain items can only be acquired by exchanging the coin!

===Surplus Contraband===

* Terrible, glittering potion (1)
: Cost: 350g Level: 30 Weight: 4lbs
:: Potion that casts level 80 Darkmatter and level 80 Bleeding.
::* It is not recommended to drink these yourself.

* Bottled enchantment essence
: Cost: 250g Level: 8 Light: 80 hours Weight: 5lbs
:: Used as light
:* Affects ac -2, damroll 1

* Bag of unusual food (x) (q) (A)
: Cost: 25,000g Level: 40 Weight: 0lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Event that spawns a random food on a 15 minute cooldown. Rechargeable, infinite charges.

* Glass rod tipped with a beer keg (1) (m) (A)
: Cost: 10,000g Level: 0 Weight: 2lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Rod that casts level 1 Create Booze on a 10 minute cooldown. Rechargeable.
:* Affects con 5

===Rare and Exotic High-Risk Trading===

* Tanuki Leaf (%) (1) (A)
: Cost: 20,000g Level: 40 Charges: 30 Cooldown: 1 minute Weight 0lbs
:: Worn in float
:: Event item that equips the user with the Tanuki Suit. Suit is worn in head, face, about, legs, and feet and must be removed with the leaf, or by dying. How convenient! The leaf does not need to be worn while the suit is worn.
:* Affects saves -10, hp 25, hitroll 5
:* Suit grants infrared, detect hidden, motivation, sneak, fast, 500 move, 400 hp, 250 mana, 15 dex, 5 str, 10 damroll, 15 hitroll

* Instalux brand instant tent (x) (!) (%) (1) (A) (norecharge)
: Cost: 1,500g Level: 1 Charges: 500 Cooldown: 1 minute Weight 0lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Event item that spawns a temporary tent. The tent grants 1000/1000 health/mana regen and can fit 5 people up to 10,000lbs. The tent disappears after 10 minutes or when the person who used the Instalux brand instant tent leaves the room.

* Hooked staff, for thievery (1) (A)
: Cost: 3,000g Level 23 Weight: 3lbs
:: Long bashing weapon
:* Claw attacks (slashing) 6d12 (average 39)
:* Affects dex 5, hitroll 2
:* Weapon flags: sharp, leaf

* Chrome cufflink (!) (1) (noexplode)
: Cost: 1,000g Level 0 Charges: 15 (25max) Cooldown: 0 Weight .5lbs
:: Worn on wrist
:: Wand that casts level 5 Psyke Up with 15 charges (25 max)
:* Affects ac -10, saves -10, wisdom 2, strength 2, magroll 5

* Pair of finely tailored crocodile skin, suede padded leggings (1)
: Cost: 18,000g Level: 31 Weight 10lbs
:: Worn on legs
:: Armor with 25/25/25/25
:* Affects moves 300, mana 200, hp 100, dex 3, damroll 5, hitroll 2

* High-tech steel-reinforced designer tote bag
: Cost: 2,000g Level: 8 Weight: 10lbs
:: Worn on shoulders, hold
:: Container with 100 item capacity, up to 300lbs. Items weigh 30% of normal.
:* Affects ac -15, mana 20, str 3

* Super Potato Plushie (!) (%) (1) (A)
: Cost: 4,500g Level: 3 Cooldown: 3 minutes Weight: 2lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Rod that casts level 3 Create Food on a 3 minute cooldown
:* Affects ac -10, saves -5, moves 50, wis 1, int 1, con 1, dex 1, str 1

* Pouch-laden sash (!) (A) (noexplode)
: Cost: 3,500g Level: 17 Charges: 70 Weight: 3lbs
:: Worn in waist
:: Wand with 70 charges of level 1 Idle Hands
:* Affects ac -10, moves 100, hitroll 5

* Unusually large flask, modified for use as a shield (!) (noexplode)
: Cost: 23,000g Level 71 Units: 300 Weight: 12lbs
:: Worn as shield
:: Drink container with 300 units of whisky. Refillable.
:* Affects ac -40, con 5, damroll 5, magroll 5
:* Grants resistance to draining

* Ring of pure condensed magic (1) (A) (norecharge)
: Cost: 25,000g Level: 60 Cooldown: 15 minutes Weight: 2lbs
:: Worn on finger
:: Rod that casts level 60 Rainbow on a 15 minute cooldown
:* Affects saves -10, mana 600, int 5, magroll 4

(x)= Uncounted (!)= Adhesive (*)= Magic (%)= No Check (m)= Hum (1)= Unique (A)= Anti-mob

June 2019: Brigantes

2019-06-30T13:35:05Z

E-mouse: Emouse AotM submission

Area of the Month for April 2019 is [[Wutai#The_Altamira_Boardwalk|The Altamira Boardwalk]]!

A template format for your review is below; click 'edit' at the top of the page, copy-pasta from the <nowiki>----</nowiki> to the next <nowiki>----</nowiki>, and fill in the gaps!

('''''Yes,''''' a wiki account is required to edit the page and therefore post your review, but take heart: The wiki is hosted by the Cleft itself, not a third party!

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'''Player: You!(Class/Level)'''

'''Review Date(s): '''

'''Descriptions: X/10'''

How does the area's room descriptions(descs) work for you? Do they give you a good idea of the area? Do things that stand out in the desc and NEED explanation GET that, either from flavor text(extra-descs) or NPCs in the room or anything?

What about mobiles(mobs) and their descriptions? Can you get a decent mental image of who or what this NPC/monster is? Do they respond when you talk or interact with them?

Some areas have interact-able objects like fountains. Do they stack up well also?

'''Balance: X/10 (OR N/A)'''

(NOTE: combat will be most accurately gauged when your character is in the area's suggested level range.)

If this area has combat, how does it feel? Does anything jump as horribly overpowered and impossible to deal with? What about the flipside, anything far too easy to beat?

Are purchased or rewarded items at the appropriate strength levels? Is the effort required to obtain rewarded items reflected in their usefulness (or uniqueness and fancifulness)

'''Attractions: X/10'''

Why would you suggest someone come to this area?
Is it just a good place to grind experience(lots of mobs)?
Does the area provide a chunk of good gold and loot?

What about the quests? Does this area's quests feel properly done, or is there some part of it that you feel needs work?

For towns, are the shops good? Any other non-combative attraction for the area?

'''Connections: X/10 '''

How easily and well does this area connect to its nearby areas?
Does it make sense thematically to be connected to the areas it is?

'''Personal'''

Any comments you'd like to make that you don't feel apply to the other sections can go here!

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Player - Aelys (Sorceress, level 100, 16 Remorts) --SHELL'D

Review Date - 6/17/2019

Descriptions:8/10

Brigantes is a joy to wander through and to see and take in all its myriad sights and descriptions. From its mobs various interactions and talk progs to its detailed and thematic descriptions, you can tell it is lovely made and tweaked over time to near perfection. There are still a few minor typo's and odd bits left over to finish polishing up, but they are hardly disruptive. However, it is because of this loving attention, that its other flaw, does stand out more.
While the main room-descs are largely fine, and the most important, often interactive, details have extra-descs, things the main-description draws attention too and that could thus merit an Extra-Desc, as like as not, dont have them. This is most disruptive in places like the Witch's Wart, where specific mention is made of several attention-grabbers, and not all appear to be covered with actual Extra-Desc's.
The streets and various shops may have one thing Extra-Desced, but mention two or three more that could pop out as an Extra-Desc, but dont pan out as such. Is such attention to detail necisary, no, however, given the rest of the attention to detail Brigantes offers, it stands out in a slightly negative fashion.
The various mobs and npc's around Brigantes, are also worth mentioning for having fun, distinctive interactions, some particularly sneaky and tricky to finagle out how to coax out of them, most of the results furthering progress in relation to the various mini-quests around the Town.

Balance:7/10

Combat

From a combat-perspective Brigantes has a rather sterling reputation for Remorters as being 'easy', yet high lvl enough to be exceptional experience. Its combatable mobs dealing slight, but noticably so, less damage then even some lower lvl foes, a decent variaty of said combat-ables and primarily for being easy to Re-Populate by leaving the Town.
From a Wizarding stand-point, this is exceptionally so, since the majority of foes you are likely to face, are Pumpkinheads, with a major known and thus exploitable weakness, in the form of a vulnerability to Fire. However, the fact everyone and their pet could know this by looking up the Pumpkinhead race, should not be counted against them as a whole, any thus known consistant weakness ends up being equally usefull, it's just Brigantes weakpoint that the majority of its kill-ables have it.
All that said, this is from a Remorted perspective, thus the same can be said for most any area, Brigantes merely being a very nice place because of its relatively high lvl by comparison to other likewise areas.
Without the knowledge of how to use the weaknesses of its mobs, they are quite capable of tearing the unwary limb from limb or blasting them to a twitching, crisp mess of magical mayhem.
They may Disarm, Trip, Bash, hurl myriad status afflictions at you, and in general, have many, many ways of messing people up.
Combat thus, remorted 5/10, non-remorted 9/10, for an average of 7/10.

9/10 Items

Purchased Goods and Quest-earned Items are rife in Brigantes. It's one of the biggest towns in the Cleft by its offer of various shops and types of things to purchase; Pets, Potions, Wearables and Craftables, Usables and Edibles. About the only thing it Lacks, is a Weapon's Shop.
It even has a place to sell Vehicles, the finest Pawnshop which buys most things at the highest price you're likely to find, and holds the only shop for Saber and Enchantment services. Not everything in itself might be as you may like it, but Brigantes is sure to have something to delight most any shopper.
As to its quest-earned items; while personally they are more quirky then usefull, some are quite nice indeed for all that.

Attractions:9/10

As mentioned in the Combat portion of the Balance section, Brigantes is an exceptional place to level in. The mobs are slightly on the weak side, but mainly have exploitable weaknesses with the right tool-sets, and earn a goodly amount of exp and gold. Which combines nicely with a nice mob diversity and density level, while allowing comparatively easy and quick repopulation.
Further, it has some of the most excellent services available, in the form of the Pawnshop for re-sale value, and the Rune Shop for various Saber and Enchantment needs. Aswell as some of the better pets, and quirky items from around its various shopping spree spread.
Quest-wise, Brigantes also has mostly good things, in that the finished Quests are fun, appropriate and well entrenched into the Town, with hints and interactions with its various npc's guiding you through them where applicable. However, there is one major Demerit keeping it from a full 10/10.
The Main-Quest, appears by all intents and purposes to be un-finished. After lots of run-around, interaction and sleuthing for Clues, you hit a literal dead-end, just when it's getting nice and spooky.
Which is rather frustrating since up to then, it is very well-played, sends you running around the Cleft as-proper for Big-Leagues Quests, and seems to be nearing its end Boss-fight stage.

Connections:6/10

With all that is available in Brigantes, it should come as no surprise, that even Entering the Midnight City, is Quest-Locked. And while I actually approve of it being Quest-locked, the method of finding out how-too Unlock it, I do not agree with.
Without going into overt detail, since Qinfo, the proper method of even knowing how-too-unlock, is buried down the 3rd or 4th link of a unrelated Quest-chain, so obscure that it took much, much sleuthing to even find out it was the Link to find out how to learn the Unlocking Method.
Fortunately, the actual un-locking method is unreliant on said quest-chain, it merely high-lights you on what you need to do. Ergo, the first time I found out said Questchain, I'd actually already done the Unlocking, and thus broke said chain of events and the Questchain came undone, joy.
All that said, it's actual Location as a City, is perfectly suited, the unlocking method itself makes sense enough in context, however the connective Link to learn how too, no, that is very poorly executed personally. It is a good questchain, but too obscurely placed.

Personal:
Brigantes, is Awesome. It doesnt need much done, a bit of polish on some room descs, some more extra descs if anything at all. Its one, glaring flaw, lies in the abrupt Ending to its joys; Finish that Main Quest!

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'''Player: Ademisk (84 Cavalier, 3 remorts)'''

'''Review Date(s): 6/21/19'''

'''Descriptions: 9/10'''

The area's descriptions are fantastic. It gives the area a great sense of thematic color and the places where a closer look are required are easily noticed. Socials never seem too difficult to figure out either. I haven't had any problems looking at anything that piqued my interest either. The mob descriptions do a competent job at giving you an image of the character they're describing.

'''Balance: 6/10'''

Brigantes has always felt a little too easy to me, and my recent trips there have all confirmed this. The pumpkinheads do decent damage but very little in the area will attack you on its own, so there's very little danger of fleeing a losing battle, which rarely happens. The War Witches can be challenging, especially if you're vulnerable to their element, but the prizes they give are so good that it more than makes up for this fact. The occasional named NPC can be a little difficult, but for the most part they're not quite on-level for named fights. The shops in Brigantes are, on the other hand, very balanced. Brigantes has a lot of great items to buy and all of them are interesting and useful for the level without going overboard. Comparing it among towns with shops I'd say that Brigantes is almost unbalanced for high quality, but honestly I'd rather say that Brigantes should be the model for a shopping experience in this game.

'''Attractions: 9.5/10'''

In terms of a place to level, this one takes the cake among all other level-equivalent areas. There are a large number of mobs wandering around, none of them target you, they are mostly pretty easy to kill, and many of them gives fantastic on-level drops. As balance this is a minus but as an attraction, Brigantes is always an area that I prioritize coming to. The shopping experience as well is phenomenal: fun, useful, and huge variety.

Quests have actually improved significantly since the last time I checked this area. There's a few things that are difficult to find but I've been able to get a handle on a number of them. There's also a fairly large number of quests that come into Brigantes from other areas, which means you'll most likely be finding your way here for one reason or another. The only quest-related concern I have is that the main line of quest doesn't seem particularly robust, and the rewards I've seen from quests don't seem to quite match up to the level of drops or shopping items in the town.

The town is also full of interesting characters to talk to and look at, which is not unique but Brigantes does it especially well. There's a number of unique features such as the Hallowrena and the blackjack parlour which you won't find anything like in any other town. Even the most innocuous characters that aren't mobs for killing have some purpose or something interesting to do with.

'''Connections: 5/10 '''

It's a bit difficult to understand what a player is supposed to do to access Brigantes if they don't meet the requirements. It just gives you an electric shock and you're supposed to figure it out on your own. It could be really annoying for a new player. I honestly don't even remember how to access it at the moment since it was already unlocked for my character, however when I tried to access on my Iron Soul character I was annoyed at not remembering what to do.

Brigantes doesn't really fit that well with the surrounding area. Everything around it is ice-themed, and suddenly it's a halloween themed town. That being said, due to Brigantes' unique entrance, it really could go anywhere and the area it's in is at least level-wise and distance from a starting town very appropriate.

'''Personal'''

Brigantes is one of my favorite areas that I always find my way back to. In some ways this is good, in other ways it's a sign that it needs improvement. It's definitely one of the best areas in the game from a player experience perspective, but I think it could be brought in line a bit better with overall expectations of cleft balance and exploration flow.

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'''Player:''' Emouse (Dollmage, level 100, 18 remorts)

'''Review Dates:''' 6/29/2019-6/30/2019

'''Descriptions: 9/10'''

Brigantes' descriptions are pretty nice: All of them have nice personality and detail, there's a variety of talk results with relevant information, and Lucia and Slorgma's movement and interactions make the place feel lively. Only Oogie Boogie's lookdesc is questionable thanks to being a running gag more than a detailed description, really.

My only real complaint would be the uneven distribution of extra descs: The ones that exist are great, but there's somewhat less of it in the southeast and northern parts of town. This isn't a serious issue, but some things like the bed(?) Ronove mentions and the rules poster mentioned in the Hallowrena are called out enough to feel more like oversights than "there's nothing more to say about this". Overall really strong, but there's some missing spots. More understandable with the main plot-quest seemingly incomplete - something that could be visited when the time is right, but not worth making a priority.

'''Balance:''' '''8/10''' for combat; estimate '''8/10''' for equipment/rewards

I've used Brigantes as a levelling spot on many occasions, most recently on my Ironsoul geomancers, so I'll weigh in on the combat balance: Brigantes' combat balance is mostly good for direct combat: enemies fight back decently with a variety of skills and elements, so there's no one way to cheese things; you usually won't get overwhelmed by a single enemy, but if you get careless or overconfident you can certainly die. Except for Starlet, who will probably kick your butt if you don't treat her like the bossfight she is.

The question for me for combat balance would be how Brigantes' status as a town should impact the fights there: One big thing about Brigantes is that once you've figured out how to avoid provoking pickpockets, Brigantes is a very safe place to fight: Once you flee from a fight, there are no further risks. Nothing attacks you unprovoked or will re-engage if you flee and re-entere the room. For a town, this would make sense; but as a popular mid-high levelling zone with so many attractions for all level ranges, that may or may not be too generous. I could see having unprovoked pickpocket attempts on low-level marks, and guards/war witches either assisting or remembering enemies to pick on.

As for the equipment and rewards available... I haven't been seriously impressed by most of it, but all the drops here are usable for one niche or another. They're generally good and fitting for the level/difficulty-to-obtain involved, but nothing super jumps out at me as a must-have for equipment purposes.

With two possible exceptions: Arche's Broom is my endgame vehicle of choice due to its abundance of flags, offset by requiring a relatively heavy and unclear key; and the stats/slot for the E. Gadd quest reward are pretty underwhelming - I'm not sure how much the special spell it casts truly offsets that.

'''Attractions: 10/10'''

In some ways it's easier to list what Brigantes doesn't have than what it does: Unique NPC services? Check. Neat quests? Check. Good shops? Check. Good XP opportunities? Check. Good cash income? Check. Flavorful NPC antics? Check. Involved pet options? Check. Fanciful food with unique spells? Check. Free fountain? Check.

The main things Brigantes are missing are a weapon shop/weapon buyer, a Necro location (for some reason I have distant memories of Ronove being one once upon a time), a rest area/inn, and quests with concrete plot-y consequences. The gameplay features for here are probably unnecessary considering how good of a location Brigantes is already, and the plot consequences seem to be a (hiatused?) work in progress already, so there's nothing to really ask for on this front.

The biggest unique attractions are Pip's above-par sell value for several common item types, and Jeanne's incredibly powerful extra sabers and Enchant spells. I don't know what to say about these: You can make a good argument for them being overpowered, but they've been a long-established part of the game. Brigantes being significantly out of the way is somewhat of a counterbalance, but the fact that these can be used as any level with only "reach Brigantes" as a prerequisite is... a potential concern.

'''Connections: 9/10'''

Brigantes itself only has one entrance from the outside world; fitting due to its status as a lost/hidden city. That said, there are an okay amount of external references to it, and Brigantes' quests do send you out into the rest of the world on occasion. There are plenty of fitting not-origin-series characters making appearances in Brigantes, so it's... integrated with the Cleft, but about as disconnected from the rest of the world as it should be, under the circumstances. You can justify either more or less connection to the rest of the world at this point; it's probably about where it should be, barring major quest developments.

'''Bugs/Exploits:'''

Mostly an oversight: Alanna the Alchemist refers to "pot seeds," which have since been retired and turned into basic pills.

"Something" in eastern Nightmare Promenade (outside of Pip's) has no give handling and is noattack

More a matter of preference: Hades' talkprog doesn't hint that even a failed cauldron thing will destroy both items to warn you against trial and error experimentation.

'''Overall: A+'''

Brigantes is popular for a reason. Lots of reasons, in fact. Too many? Maybe.

'''Personal'''

One weakness/unfairness of Brigantes is the level of obscurity for starting some of its quests: Requiring quest access to the city makes sense (especially considering how powerful its services are), but nothing at the entrance to Brigantes hints at the quest sequence leading up to it. People trying to figure out the entrance without being around for the change note announcing the quest requirement addition end up at a significant disadvantage. The hints for what's implemented of the 'plot' quest are also grimace-inducingly subtle; not as much of an issue since there's no end goal at the moment, but something to keep in mind for the future.

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[[Category:Area of the Month]]

May 2019:Altamira Boardwalk

2019-05-27T16:36:02Z

E-mouse: Emouse AotM submission

Area of the Month for April 2019 is [[Wutai#The_Altamira_Boardwalk|The Altamira Boardwalk]]!

A template format for your review is below; click 'edit' at the top of the page, copy-pasta from the <nowiki>----</nowiki> to the next <nowiki>----</nowiki>, and fill in the gaps!

('''''Yes,''''' a wiki account is required to edit the page and therefore post your review, but take heart: The wiki is hosted by the Cleft itself, not a third party!

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'''Player: You!(Class/Level)'''

'''Review Date(s): '''

'''Descriptions: X/10'''

How does the area's room descriptions(descs) work for you? Do they give you a good idea of the area? Do things that stand out in the desc and NEED explanation GET that, either from flavor text(extra-descs) or NPCs in the room or anything?

What about mobiles(mobs) and their descriptions? Can you get a decent mental image of who or what this NPC/monster is? Do they respond when you talk or interact with them?

Some areas have interact-able objects like fountains. Do they stack up well also?

'''Balance: X/10 (OR N/A)'''

(NOTE: combat will be most accurately gauged when your character is in the area's suggested level range.)

If this area has combat, how does it feel? Does anything jump as horribly overpowered and impossible to deal with? What about the flipside, anything far too easy to beat?

Are purchased or rewarded items at the appropriate strength levels? Is the effort required to obtain rewarded items reflected in their usefulness (or uniqueness and fancifulness)

'''Attractions: X/10'''

Why would you suggest someone come to this area?
Is it just a good place to grind experience(lots of mobs)?
Does the area provide a chunk of good gold and loot?

What about the quests? Does this area's quests feel properly done, or is there some part of it that you feel needs work?

For towns, are the shops good? Any other non-combative attraction for the area?

'''Connections: X/10 '''

How easily and well does this area connect to its nearby areas?
Does it make sense thematically to be connected to the areas it is?

'''Personal'''

Any comments you'd like to make that you don't feel apply to the other sections can go here!

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'''Player:''' Emouse (Dollmage, level 100, 18 remorts)

'''Review Dates:''' 5/25/2019-5/27/2019

'''Descriptions: 9/10'''

Flavor descriptions are probably Altamira's strongest point: It's generally basic and straightforward, but so is the content. For better or for worse, most of it is done through timed echos in given rooms instead of extra descs. Considering how many things on the main boardwalk are pure flavor with no clear gameplay consequence, it's impressive how much has been put into them. I suspect I haven't seen everything there is to see here... The idle banter for Agnp and the ways the rides operate are probably some of the strongest parts.

There are a few things that I'd like to see with extra descs (like the building where Agnp is, and a little more about the rides before actually handing over a ticket to get on) but the main boardwalk is good.

Smash Stadium has lots of flavor for its mobs and some nice ASCII art (which may need to be addressed for screen reader purposes), but the frequency of extra descs for stuff in the stages is inconsistent - Ness and Captain Falcon have few, but many of the others have multiple extra descs for flavor. There's space for touch-ups, if only for screen reader compatibility, but the Stadium does even better than the main boardwalk for description purposes.

The Smash Stadium prize exchange tent is also good, but has some room for improvement: The weight of the prizes is not listed, but is somewhat relevant for budgeting space for remorting in a region designed around remorting - but considering the ability to exchange AFTER remorting, it's not necessarily a serious issue.
More archaic and annoying is that the exchange attendant is missing some quality-of-life features available on many of Lilly's event exchangers; listing the say prompts for the items you have enough points for, being able to check how many are currently carried, and attempting to return extra tokens are all proven possible, but not implemented here. Inconvenient? Yes. Worth updating? Eh... if it's simple.

'''Balance:''' '''N/A''' for combat; estimate '''8/10''' for equipment/rewards

I don't really have any characters in an appropriate level range for this, and Smash Stadium has a (very) wide level range, so I don't really have a good grip on the combat balance here. Sorry!

That being said - the meta-level balance of the zone design and equipment is... odd, but effective. I've been told that Smash Stadium was intended for remorting, and it shows: While you can visit to collect tokens at a wide range of levels, the time attack nature of the reward amounts and escalating danger of the later rounds (for both opponent level and how many team up on you at once) the area is easily most efficient to visit at level 100 while preparing to get above-par equipment for your next lifetime. Even then, the final two matches put you at a significant enough disadvantage to be somewhat threatening even at 100 with okay 1st-remort gear. You can still visit at lower levels and gather tokens more slowly; all of the combat areas being flagged Arena prevents you from gaining or losing XP/dealing with corpse nonsense in the process, and the loading screen/1-player-at-a-time process prevents friendly fire between players to mask that.

I'm not as sure about the way the rewards for the different matches operate, though: The fact that you only get rewards at the end of each bracket (up until the final two rounds where you get teamed up on all at once) makes it painful to try and experiment with how far you can go when you aren't coming in at full power to curbstomp the whole event. Granted - that's part of what the way it's designed is intended for, so that's not as big a deal as it could be.
The gold rewards for different brackets are a bit puzzling considering the in-world explanation for the area, but I'm willing to just smile and nod. However, it IS odd that while the brackets scale in level progressively, the gold rewards for brackets go 5, 10, 5, 10, 0. At least, in the echos provided. The extra gold is probably a reasonable reward for the time/combat involved, but the way the amounts scale is puzzling.

In terms of smash token payouts, the only real pain point for me is the time limit for the 5th bracket - 98% of the time I can get 30 or 36 points after Ganondorf while rocking heavy Lunar Subterrane gear, but 40 points is incredibly difficult to pull off and usually puts the max 150 advertised in the tent out of reach. 40 points is also, strangely, more than the amount of tokens rewarded for the significantly-more-dangerous final two matches with no extra prizes. I remember specifically bowing out instead of dealing with those matches while trying to quickly collect Smash tokens on Hevea years ago, and even with Emouse's Lunar-gear might I walked out of the last bracket losing 3-5x as much HP as I did up through Ganondorf.
Some adjustment for the last 'bracket' may be appropriate, whether it be by making 30 points the max for the Ganondorf bracket with the rest being treated as a 'buffer' for the time you can take and moving the token to one of the last-bracket opponents, or by adding something extra that Master Hand/Crazy Hand/Psycho Mewtwo/Enraged Ganondorf/Giga Bowser can drop.

As for the Smash Stadium exchange prizes... they're mostly fitting for their intended role - above par for the level, but most realistic to get as remorting gear - or to stockpile Smash Stadium tokens to get as needed during remorts at the level they're useful. This is a unique way to work around remorting inventory restrictions on a limited cash budget, though the selection is limited and repeating the trick in multiple remorts has maintenance costs (mostly in time spent at Smash Stadium).
This is especially true for the consumables - Mario Multivitamins are competitive for consumable healing through mid-levels, or even high levels as a Kirby because pill. Metal Box and Parasol are relatively unimpressive but have uncommon resists for the slot if circumstances demand. Star Rods, Heart Containers, and Warp Stars are handy for multiple uses of several spell types when short on remort slots, especially with Recharge. The Reflector Shield and Tour Bus are both very good for their level range, but a little heavy to always budget space for while remorting - tying into the "remort the tokens" strategy even more. Piecing together enough of remort inventory mechanics to figure that out is trickier to manage.

The two rod-type items from the stadium exchange are the odd part: For Freezies, Frozen Touch is purely defensive, short-lived (for good reason) and isn't as useful against mobs since the Frozen affect doesn't always stop mobprogs. While the level 30 wear/level 50 cast is a strong discrepency, the substantial cooldown and abrupt drop-off of success rate once you start facing higher-level enemies make it feel like it has a narrow niche. But that may be due to my investments in other equipment to allow playing aggressively while remorting, thus devaluing defensive extras. Thematically it doesn't really... fit to change much about it, since Frozen Touch strongly matches what Freezies do in Smash, but I'm not sure it's something I'd be inclined to get.
The Fighting Wireframe Trophy is even worse. Admittedly - it seems to be intended as a bragging-rights trophy more than something with practical use. But even then, level 1 rod of Legionairre is not very unique or fancy. I don't know what to do about this one, if anything: Possible easy tweaks could be to add a sell value of higher than 2 (to make it the only way to exchange Smash Tokens for cash, though the ability to do that for large sums of money at level 0 could be dangerous) or adding Uncounted so that keeping it as a mostly-useless trophy doesn't use more space while remorting than the 100 Uncounted tokens exchanged for it.

Agnp's inventory is... mostly more flavorful than powerful. The action figures are an interesting (and relatively expensive) way to counter the basic non-human races' mainstat deficiencies, but generally aren't all that powerful. There's reasonable flavor arguments for adding some for the remort-only races, but if the pattern sticks they would still be relatively tame for balance concerns. The paintball and rubber band weapons are mostly entertaining but have added affects that could find a niche (earth damage and tracer at any level is a rarity). The dice are cute and handy for RNG decision-making, and Demonicor's universal equip options and ever-so-slightly better stats are offset by being a level 100 item.
The Angela Doll and Wrath's Wardrobe are more considerable for balance purposes: Angela is one of the biggest MP boosts in the game, but provides nothing else while using a hand slot - there are other high-end items, a few of them even buyable, that can compete in total stat boosts, so she's mostly good for squeezing out every last drop you can for Wizen or Megamagic.

Wraith's Wardrobe... I'm not sure how to feel about. To my knowledge it's the best all-around container than can be bought at a shop, making it a top choice for locker fodder and budget item management, but the price is substantial. For use as a locker, Wraith's Wardrobe is in a good place balance-wise; 1,300 gold is a serious expense your first few remorts and remains a solid chunk for any life's budget - like the Smash Stadium tokens, it's a significant every-remort expense, but in the form of extra gold to remort instead of extra time to replace stuff you're ditching/using up to remort. You can't get it TOO early with a level of 70, but...
I'm kind of an old fogey in terms of the value of containers: I'm used to there being a sharp divide between containers readily available from stores or basic quests and containers locked behind either raidbosses or Immortal tokens, where 'lesser' containers are only good for managing inventory and have little to no weight reduction value. Wraith's Wardrobe defies that divide by being a good-but-not-unbeatable container that is available purely through gaining XP and gold, with generally adequate capacity, relevant weight reduction, and of a very reasonable weight itself. I have a gut feeling that it's possible for it to be TOO good in these categories, but I don't know if that's me being reactive and undervaluing container level/Adhesiveness when the Wardrobe is at the strength a high-level/cost container should be, or if the Wardrobe's not-locker properties are so good that outclassing lower-level containers for in-inventory use through remorts is a concern.
There IS still room for a better-than-wardrobe-worse-than-raidboss/immtoken containers could be designed, but the space for it feels relatively narrow. I don't know if this is - or should be - a concern. If if is, the Wardrobe's inherent weight and weight% reduction mainly affect its value as a carried container, and not its value as locker fodder.

'''Attractions: 7/10'''

Altamira is in a weird place for attractions: It has a strong selection of shop buyables and equipment for a wide range of levels and budgets, and the Smash Stadium is a good experience for fighting and remort preparation... but you can't gain XP here, at all, and the Quests list for the Boardwalk is completely blank. Several other zones send you to Altamira as part of quests (such as the ferris wheel qflag in Wutai) but there's nothing that starts in Altamira outside of Smash Stadium, which is self-contained and doesn't rely on qflags.

What Altamira HAS is strong and appropriate, but it's completely missing some categories of content. No XP combat for a 'town' is reasonable, but I'm not as sure about completely outsourcing (or unlisting) all quest content.

Moving/duplicating the ferris wheel quest line here would probably be helpful - I don't know what other qflags are used or set in the area, if any, but setting up something to let the 'quests' command point out things that can be done in the area would be nice-but-not-vital.
If new quest additions would be worth it, tracking for the highest Smash Stadium brackets you've cleared (possibly with one-time XP rewards?) and retrieving new plushies/action figures/less kosher desires for Agnp feel like tasks that direct you to the big features of the area.

'''Connections: 9/10'''

Altamira's location and connections are pretty good: Its location as a beachside carnival in a relatively peaceful region makes perfect sense, there's a mix of Cleft races about, and there are a few references to other areas in the Cleft scattered around (such as the Monotoli advertisement in a Smash Stadium extra desc). More could be possible, but it's in solid condition as it is.
... it is slightly odd that most of the events are classical carnival rides, while Smash Stadium is fashioned as an advanced technological fighting ring, but it's also relatively easy to hand-wave as Monotoli marketing.

The only real problem: In terms of broader lore, Smash Stadium is a bit... out of character? All of the Smash characters are treated as if a person that could play Smash Melee were looking at/talking to them, and in that context things make sense. However, Mario and Luigi (at the very least) have existing places in in-character Clefty lore that go unaddressed. I'm not sure if that is, or should be, considered an issue.

'''Bugs/Exploits:'''

In Guardia - Altamira Boardwalk: Entrance, I'm not sure about some of the grammar: The "it's" in the room desc and the archway's extra desc may deserve a look.

Mixed blessing: The merchant tent mobs appear to be flagged inert, meaning that they don't appear as line when you look in the room. Probably intentional, but it does make it harder to tell which rooms in the boardwalk "list" will work in. Is this an appropriate time/area to expect players to experiment with that with low prompting? I don't know. Adding a mention of list working even if the shopkeeper isn't obvious may be appropriate?

Possible item name oversight: the Smash Stadium tokens can be checked with "ten", "point", and "token", but not "smash" or "stadium". Considering the other point tokens that have popped up for other things, it may be worth giving ways to refer to the Smash tokens specifically.

Personal gripe: Many of the room transfers in Smash Stadium won't take charmies with you, so I've always had a hard time clearing this efficiently as a primarily-summoner. Usually happens when you're 'chain-transferred' - when you gather your team into a room everyone transfers properly, but after your minions have been transferred into a room they don't transfer to the NEXT room properly. For example, if you gather into the first "loading" room, your followers appear for the fight against Ness, but not for the following fight against Captain Falcon. This forces re-gathering every other fight, which is a significant slowdown when trying to speed-lap the contest, and a moderate threat for the last few rounds when you get attacked immediately after being transferred (since Gather can't be cast in combat). I don't know if this is caused by an easy-switch choice of transfer method, a code quirk that would be more difficult to address (or cause problems elsewhere) or what.

Pichu's talkprog seems to misuse the "self" variable and not actually echo its own name. Oops.

One of Master/Crazy Hands' special attacks seems to not echo a damage value: "Master Hand and Crazy Hand clap together, crushing you between them!"

The enemies in the very last round (Psycho Mewtwo, Enraged Ganondorf, and Giga Bowser) all have an on-defeat message that implies not leaving a corpse, but do leave corpses and (edible) bodyparts: I'm not sure whether this is intentional. Considering how glitchy they are by nature, weirdness would be fitting, but it's a bit inconsistent with the on-death echoes.

Some NPCs have no talk progs, when that seems to be standard for most locations:
* Merchant Tents
* Master Hand
* Crazy Hand
* Enraged Ganondorf
* Psycho Mewtwo
* Giga Bowser

Apparently ALL of the Smash Stadium opponents are not flagged carrynone and most don't leave corpses, risking vaporized Flings and lost items if you're trying to get a reaction out of character-specific stuff or off-the-wall theories. (I have given Samus at least one Chozo-looking thing in the past.) I'm not sure whether carrynone or on-death dumping their inventory in the next Loading room would be more cost-effective.
This has been tested on:
* (Target)
* Ness
* Captain Falcon
* Nana
* Popo
* Mario
* Donkey Kong
* Mr. Game and Watch
* Young Link
* Yoshi
* Kirby
* Fox McCloud
* Roy
* Falco
* Samus
* Pichu
* Pikachu
* Luigi
* Dr. Mario
* Marth
* Mewtwo
* Jigglypuff
* Metal Ness
* Zelda
* Link
* Sheik
* Bowser
* Princess Peach
* Ganondorf
* Master Hand
* Crazy Hand
* Psycho Mewtwo
* Enraged Ganondorf
* Giga Bowser

'''Overall: A'''

Altamira is a strong zone, reliant on Stadium remort content, shops, and flavor descriptions for its value over effectiveness for directly gaining levels - and does it VERY well. It does still have shortcomings, primarily in quest direction and showing its age, but the place has held up well for a good reason.

'''Recommendations:'''

I don't know if it already exists, but due to the all-or-nothing nature of the brackets in Smash Stadium, it would probably be good to have some sort of warning for participants that are low enough level that clearing the first bracket would be difficult. Having the ride operator's talkprog check for that and say something along the lines of "though getting through the first bracket might be difficult for someone of your strength..."

I dislike the discrepancy in the max payout of Bracket 5 and 'Bracket' 6, especially considering the relative danger of each. If it would be easy to make Bracket 5 a max payout of 30 points with more of a time buffer and 'Bracket' 6 a max payout of 40 points with greater danger involved, I think it would be an improvement.

The Smash Stadium Token Exchange is a bit archaic - a lot of point-exchange-mob features have been displayed in a lot of Lilly's events, but not here. Depending on how much of a hassle setting those up is, it may be worth bullying him about bringing the attendant up to snuff.

The fact that the Smash Stadium battle rooms are flagged Arena is relatively subtle - the only explicit hint without dying in the Stadium is that enemies don't provide XP, which doesn't really tip you off that you won't need to worry about necroing if you die there if you aren't already familiar with what the arena flag implies. Adding a sentence to the end of the second paragraph of the bulletin extradesc in Altamira Boardwalk - Smash Stadium Prize Vendor room would work: It already breaks the fourth wall about "the only way out is death!" - adding something like "But don't worry too much, the rooms are also flagged Arena, so all your items and XP will stay with you if you die." would point it out explicitly in a location that makes sense, and tip the player off that this is a thing that can happen in other regions as well.

The barren 'Quests' list for the Boardwalk is slightly misleading and unhelpful: Copying over/transferring the "ride the ferris wheel" qflag from Wutai would show that there's at least something to interact with, and additions/publication of qflags related to completing Smash Stadium or that hint to check out Agnp's shop would allow the Quests command to direct you at more of the features of the area.

'''Excessive Ideas:'''

Smash Stadium and Altamira are already really good, but oddly enough... Smash Stadium also feels like a great place to expand or improve on - if only because of the fact that the Smash series has expanded since the time of it the Stadium's creation, and the area being based on the 2nd of 5th (so far) of the series is an awkward place for it to stop.
There's a lot of room to be flexible with how to do it - a starting point for more dramatic areas with meta-weirdness based on Brawl's Subspace Emissary or Ultimate's World of Light, different battle modes (multiple room arena with groups of fighting polygons/wireframes for Geomancer love?), alternative character sets for existing/new brackets... there are a lot of different directions things could go, but it just feels awkward with what's currently there.
In a way this also goes for the item exchange: Lots of fun new things were added in Brawl and later that would be neat to see, and expand the options that Smash Tokens provide for remorting. Smash Ball float? Single-use event that lets you use Super off-class, or a class-specific special ability! Assist Trophy? Event to call up NPCs for various things! Party ball? Stack of Instant bonuses to grab, or it blows up in someone's face! Whether any of these are worth implementing or empowering the Stadium further over I shouldn't push.

The uniqueness and interestingness of the Wireframe Trophy as a bragging-rights treasure is underwhelming: Legionaire is not a very impressive spell even at-level, and simply raising it to be a don't-worry-about-recharge version of the Star Rod's high-level damage concept feels lazy (and potentially risky). Refasioning it as some sort of fancy-but-possibly-useless Event-type item would be much more interesting. I don't know if anyone would be up for it, but it feels like a no-combat-value "pet" follower ala the pumpkin and reindeer rewards from Cooper's seasonal events could be appropriate - or some sort of reusable actual-combat-pet summon item, probably something not-the-best-but-free for lower levels to keep with the area theme.

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[[Category:Area of the Month]]

Immortal Shops

2019-01-28T23:30:21Z

E-mouse: /* Tea House of Ageatii */

For the sake of vanity, various staff members have set up shops that you can only access by trading in an immortal token. Some of these shops are hidden somewhere in the cleft, others require contacting an immortal.

===Tea House of Ageatii===
Hidden somewhere in the cleft, the Tea House of Ageatii can be accessed by trading in either a clay cup of ageatea. A bank is present inside the shop for your convenience, but make sure you buy everything you came here for before leaving! The shop keeper, the Basilisk Ronin offers the following items:

* Steel Fist Sake (1)
: Cost: 300g Level: 50 Weight: 0lbs
:: It is a potion with the level 50 spells of Attack Up, Encore and Encore

* Steel Soul Sake
: Cost: 300g Level: 50 Weight: 0lbs
:: It is a potion with the level 50 spells of Protect, Encore and Encore

* Rare Ores Grab Bag (%)
: Cost: 500g Level: 0 Charges: 3 Cooldown: 0 minutes Weight: 0lbs
:: It is an event that randomly creates rare crafting materials.

* Masterball (%)
: Cost: 750g Level: 65 Charges: -1 Cooldown: 2 minutes Weight: 1lbs
:: It is an event that will charm and enslave the target, unless it is immune to charm or you already have a pet. It will then vanish.

* Piece of Heart (x)(!)
: Cost: 1500g Level: 0 Weight: 0lbs
:: If you get four of these it will give you an additional 50 max HP.

* Organ of the Evening Calm (m)
: Cost: 2000g Level: 40 Cooldown: 10 minutes Weight: 2lbs
:: It is a rod that can be worn as a shield and it casts a level 150 spell of Calm. It also affects HP by +150 and affects armor class by -40. This is an instrument that can affect Harvest Sprites, too.

* Warp Whistle
: Cost: 4000g Level: 0 Charges: 100 Cooldown: 0 minutes Weight: 1lbs
:: It is an event that will call forth a spiraling vortex that carries you to a warp zone. The warp zone has pipes leading down to many locations around the world.

* Dainty Cup of Ageatea (!)(x)(*)
: Cost: 6000g Level: 0 Weight: 0lbs
:: It is a handy and weightless fountain of tea.

* Stone Mask (!)
: Cost: 10,000g Level: 60 Weight: 2lbs
:: Wearing this mask makes you permanently invisible(unless you enter a fight like the spell) but also makes you vulnerable to weapons, magic and degrades your dexterity by 4. With great power comes...Great weakness?

=== The Wigglytuff Store (Carsanquay)===
[[Wigglytuff]], the mysterious entity, will sell you these items for a frightening amount of gold and a tuna token. This shop requires an immortal to load Wigglytuff, so send an immortal a tell when you're willing to purchase an item. Each item costs 1 tuna token and its gold amount.

* the wand of banishment (*)
: Cost: 1,500g Level: 0 Weight: 3lbs
:: This wand will send the target to a twisted void of shadow and horror. It will disappear when exhausted.
:* It has 40 (max 40) charges of level 100 'Xzone'.

* Lobster Power
: Cost: 3,000g Level: 0 Weight: 1lb
:: This staff, worn on the wrist, will enhance your power. It protects the wearer with a mystical barrier of thorns, enable the wearer to swim, make them slightly tougher, and possibly improve their love life. Or not.
:* This staff improves Constitution by 2, Damroll by 5, AC by -10, adds Swim, and grants the Thorn Shield effect.
:* It has 20 charges of level 50 'Attack Up'.

* a lazy shell
: Cost: 3,000g Level: 0 Weight: 35lbs
:: This huge shell is worn on the torso. It makes the user a little tougher, but makes it harder to move freely. You could easily carry junk in this.
:* This container improves Constitution by 1, worsens Dexterity by 2, and improves AC by -15. It's also a container, which can hold up to 10000 items weighing up to 10000 pounds, in total. The weight of all those items is reduced to 10% of their normal value.

* a minivan
: Cost: 6,000g Level: 60 (70 to purchase) Weight: 25lbs
::* This is a van. You can ride in it! Sweet! Insanely strong people can also hulk out and use this as a weapon. Ouch. I don't even want to think about what that would do to your premiums.
:* A minivan is a level 60 vehicle with seating for 8. It ignores move, and, when wielded as a weapon, affects dexterity by -4, damage roll by 70, armor class by -9,and hit roll by 100. WHAM!

* the pratfallotron
: Cost: 2,250g Level: 0 Weight: 2 lbs
:: This item can be held. What it does is a mystery.

===The Bountiful Garden Cafe & Gift Shop (Lilly)===
The lovely waitstaff of this cafe have plenty to offer,
both food and trinkets alike, as long as you have a Bag
of Grass Seed (and plenty of gold) to exchange in return!
This shop is hidden somewhere in the cleft and costs a single Bag of Grass Seed to enter. A bank is present, so be sure not to leave the shop until you've purchased everything you came here for!

====Cafe====

* A Bountiful Garden designer tote bag
: Cost: 2000g, Level: 8, Weight: 2lbs
:: Elegant and sturdy, this thing holds a lot!
:* Weight Cap: 300lbs, Item Cap: 120, Weight Reduction: 40%
:* Can be held or worn over the shoulder! AC -5, Moves +50, Wis & Int +1

* A Bountiful Garden designer canteen
: Cost: 1000g, Level: 1, Weight: 1lbs
:: One of our best-selling souvenirs!
:* Holds 250 units of liquid, starting with pre-filled root beer.
:* Can be held, HP & Mana +20

* A Caramel Mocha Latte
: Cost: 500g, Level: 50, Weight: 0lbs
:: Great for those who need a quick pick-me-up (and we do mean "quick")!
:* This is a single-use potion with Lv110 spells of "Haste", "Regen" & "Extension"

* An Angelic Energy Drink
: Cost: 650g, Level: 50, Weight: 0lbs
:: Downing one of these is guaranteed to bring about a heavenly experience!
:* This is a single-use potion with Lv80 spells of "Attack Up", "Valor", & "Seraph Form"

* A Slice of Bountiful Garden Cafe's Cherry Cheesecake
: Cost: 50g, Level 5, Weight: 0lbs
:: The signature treat of the Bountiful Garden Cafe! Few leave without having tried some at least once!
:* This is food that provides 15 hours of satiation and 7 hours of fullness.
:* Also heals the consumer by ~450 HP!

* A Whole Bountiful Garden Cafe's Cherry Cheesecake
: Cost: 200g, Level: 5, Weight 1lbs
:: Why stop at just one slice when you can have the whole thing?
:* This is a useable item that creates a slice of cheesecake when activated.
:* Provides 6 slices total, and is no-recharge.

====Gift Shop====

* A Bountiful Garden 'Vol Wolf' Essence Bulb (!)(%)(m)(1)
: Cost: 4000g, Level: 50, Weight: 0lbs
:: A faithful companion for the more-traveled adventurer. Shockingly loyal!
:* This is a useable item that will summon a Lv50 'Vol Wolf' as a pet.
:* It has 1 charge, but does not disappear when exhausted.

* A Bountiful Garden 'Rappy' Essence Bulb (!)(%)(m)(1)
: Cost: 2500g, Level: 30, Weight: 0lbs
:: A cute companion for the seasoned, but not super-experienced, traveler. Cuddly in its own way!
:* This is a useable item that will summon a Lv30 'Rappy' as a pet.
:* It has 1 charge, but does not disappear when exhausted.

* An Adventurously-Cut, Pale Rose Tube Top (!)(%)(1)
: Cost: 3800g, Level: 15, Weight: 1lbs
:: Sleek and provocative, worn only by the most outgoing of ladies. Designed by our resident succubus, Natalie!
:* This is a wand-type item that can be worn on the torso and is flagged AntiMale.
:* Dex +2, AC +25, Hitroll +5, Damroll +10, Mana +100
:* Contains 20 charges of Lv60 'Confuse'

*(Bountiful Garden) Rose Dress Shoes (!)
: Cost: 3200g, Level: 20, Weight: 1lbs
:: Cute in their presentation and easy to move around in! These are the standard footwear apparel for our waitstaff.
:* This is a wand-type item that can be worn on the feet and is flagged AntiMale.
:* AC -20, Int/Wis/Dex +2, Mana +50
:* Contains 30 charges of Lv120 'Mana Restore'

* (Bountiful Garden) A Pleated, Dark Rose Dress Skirt (!)
: Cost: 3000g, Level: 30, Weight: 1lbs
:: Stylish and elegant, this classy skirt is the standard legwear apparel for our waitstaff.
:*This is an armor that can be worn on the legs and is flagged AntiMale.
:* AC: 38 pierce/slash/bash, 45 Magic
:* Int & Wis +2, HP/Mana/Mov +50
:* Adds resistance to iron & silver

* (Bountiful Garden) A Ruffle-Sleeved, Rose-Hued Blouse (!)
: Cost: 3000g, Level: 30, Weight: 1lbs
:: Professional with a touch of grace, this pretty blouse is the standard upperwear apparel for our waitstaff.
:* This is an armor that can be worn on the torso and is flagged AntiMale.
:* AC: 38 pierce/slash/bash, 45 magic
:* Int & Wis +2, HP/Mana/Mov +50
:* Adds resistance to charm & mental

* A Soft and Cuddly Flammie Plushie (!) (1)
: Cost: 8000g, Level: 85, Weight: 1lbs
:: A soft, furry and squishy representation of the gentle Manabeast herself. A strong magical aura surrounds this toy; known to bring happiness to those who can afford one!
:* This is a wand-type item that can be held.
:* Mov +150, Mana/HP +250, Damroll/Hitroll +5, Str & Wis +2
:* Contains 20 charges of Lv100 'Float'

* A Giant Sunflower Pillow (!)(1)
: Cost: 3500g, Level: 12, Weight: 3lbs
:: A bright decoration to throw around the house, yet sturdy enough to bring into combat!
:* This is a furniture-type item that increases HP/Mana regen rates by 300%,
:* can hold one person, and can be worn as a shield.
:* HP +75, Con +3, AC -20, Mana +30

* A Golden Ankh of Venus (!)(%)(1)
: Cost: 2500g, Level: 30, Weight: 0lbs
:: A symbol of the female gender itself, this trinket is guaranteed to turn your world upside down! Or is it inverted? We're not too sure, really. Has a unique effect if used with the full Bountiful Garden Waitress' ensemble.
:* This is a useable item that can be worn around the neck. When used, it will cast Lv30 'Change Sex' & 'Extension' on the user if a target is not selected, or a specified player if one is selected.
:* It has unlimited charges, with a cooldown of 3 minutes.
:* Wis & Int +2, Mana +50

* A Flammie Jetbike (!)(1)
: Cost: 6800g, Level: 50, Weight: 5lbs
:: Highly prized and consistently ranked at the top of most customers' "Most-Wanted" lists, this blazing vehicle boasts speed and durability, as well as easy carrying ability when not in use!
:* This is a vehicle that is ignores movement during usage, is fast, and flying. It can hold 2 people, and can be worn on the body.
:* Damroll +3, AC -10, HP +75, Mana +50, Mov +100

* A Piece of Mind (!)(x)
: Cost: 1500g, Level: 1, Weight: 0lbs
:: The long-awaited counterpart to the Piece of Heart, obtaining four of these will boost your maximum Mana by 50!
:* Collect four of these and turn them in to an Immortal to obtain +50 Max Mana.

* A Token of Expansion (!)(x)
: Cost: 3500g, Level: 1, Weight: 0lbs
:: Bigger houses, more room, happier guests! This token allows you to expand your house space by one room. Useful when you just don't have enough restring tokens (damn that stingy Lilly)!
:* Give this token to an Immortal in charge of Player Housing to waive the cost of 1 room! Mobs, objects, and anything else not included.

* A Token of Conversion (!)(x)(1)
: Cost: 3000g, Level: 85, Weight: 0lbs
:: You ask, and we answered! This token allows an adventurer to exchange 50 practice sessions for 5 training sessions! The power involved is a fickle one, however, and only one of these may be used per incarnation!
:* This is a useable item that will deduct 50 practices and bestow 5 trains to the user. The player is then flagged for the playthrough, and may not use another one until reaching the appropriate level of their next remort session.

=<(The Magician's Trick)>=
If you've received a black silk top hat with a red velvet band, you can visit Ozlynn's magical shop! By dropping the hat and entering it (which will promptly pick it back up), you can freely purchase these 4 items:

* A Magikoopa Kap (1)
: Cost: 750g, Level: 16, Weight: 4 lbs
:: Use this hat to recall with style and hustle your goods to unsuspecting citizens, like a true Magikoopa! (Do not use in nonsmoking areas)
:* This hat is an event that boosts INT by 1 and Mana by 30. It has 4 charges of recall.

* A solid brick of cheese
: Cost: 100g, Level:1, Weight: 10 lbs
:: This big brick of cheese will provide 5 hours of satiation and 20 hours of fullness, but be warned: Eating 10 pounds of cheese in a single sitting might cause one to feel lethargic.

* A twinkle, twinkle little star
: Cost: 60g, Level: 5, Weight: 1 lbs
:* This little star will guide you through darkness forever!.. Or at least 240 hours, whichever comes first. It affects Mana by 10 and saves by -2

* A fancy bottle of orange juice
: Cost: 320g, Level: 10, Weight 3 lbs
:: Start your day out right. Start your day with orange juice!
:* This is a drink container that holds 95 units, starting with orange juice.

===For Serious Magicians===
These items can only be purchased by trading in a tophat for each transaction. Magical!

* A Personal Dimension
: Cost: 6,200g, Level 30, Weighing 1 lbs.
:: Holds 15 items weighing up to 10,000 pounds, Reducing weight by 100%
:: Worn in float slot
:* Adds regeneration, HP/Mana/MV +110

* A Warp Star
: Cost: 14,500g, Level 90 vehicle, Weighing 20 lbs.
:: Holds 2 people, affects regen by 100%
:: Fast, flying, indoors and ignores MV
:: Worn in shield slot
:* Affects hitroll by -3, AC -45, damroll +16, HP/Mana +120
:: Note: It cannot be used by mobs

* A pair of hypno-goggles (%)
: Cost: 3,600 Level 35 event, weighing 2 lbs
:: Has 100(max 100) charges with a cooldown of 120 minutes, with norecharge
::Worn in face slot
:: It will hypnotize/tame the target, then enslave them!
:* Affects Con +2, AC -10, HP +40

* A shiny cummerbund (%)
: Cost: 13,500g, Level 50 rod, Weighing 0 lbs.
:: Casts level 50 Dazzle, with a 10 minute cooldown.
:: Worn in waist slot
:* Affects AC -10, Mana +150, HP +50

* A large, striped bow tie (!)
: Cost: 12,500g, Level 80 rod, Weighing 1 lbs.
:: Casts level 10 Charge, with a 5 minute cooldown, with norecharge
:: Worn in neck slot
:* Affects AC -5, HP +60, Mana +380, WIS +2, Int +2

* A pair of glossy tap dancing shoes (!)
: Cost: 11,000g Level 35 event, weighing 4 lbs.
:: Has infinite charges with a 20 minute cooldown, with norecharge
:: Worn in feet slot
:: Tap dance in ways that might make you kick, break someone's heart, or get pumped and charged!
:* Affects HP +30, Mana +40, AC -20, MV +100, dex +2

* A flashy black suede cape, lined in red silk
: Cost: 10,500g, Level 38 rod, weighing 8 lbs.
:: Casts level 15 Invisibility, with a 30 minute cooldown, with norecharge
:: Worn in about slot
:*Affects AC -16, MV +30, Mana +110, HP +105, adds float
:: Note: It cannot be used by mobs

* A sterling silver cufflink (!)
: Cost: 1000g, Level 0 staff, weighing 0 lbs.
:: Has 20(max 25) charges of level 40 Haste
:: Worn in wrist slot
:* Affects damroll/hitroll +5, Ac -10, dex +2, adds ice shield

* Some rare candy
: Cost: 1,000g, Level 0, Weighing 0 lbs.
:* Use this to get a quick 10,000 experience points!

* A false memory (x)
: Cost 15,000g, Level 0, weighing 0 lbs.
:: Give this memory to Ozlynn and have her jam it into your head, but be warned, she'll take a memory in exchange!
:* Trade in a skill NOT in your current class, which you remorted into the class you are now, for another skill of another class.
:* The skill you wish to receive may not be a qspell, megamagic, a style(for simplicity's sake), or a skill that's outside what the current classes have available to them.
:* Other restrictions may apply.

= The Black Market (Cooper) =
Hidden somewhere in the Cleft, the bartender of The Thieves' Den will accept a coin made of pyrite featuring the smug grinning mug of Cooper himself for access to The Black Market. Certain items can only be acquired by exchanging the coin!

===Surplus Contraband===

* Terrible, glittering potion (1)
: Cost: 350g Level: 30 Weight: 4lbs
:: Potion that casts level 80 Darkmatter and level 80 Bleeding.
::* It is not recommended to drink these yourself.

* Bottled enchantment essence
: Cost: 250g Level: 8 Light: 80 hours Weight: 5lbs
:: Used as light
:* Affects ac -2, damroll 1

* Bag of unusual food (x) (q) (A)
: Cost: 25,000g Level: 40 Weight: 0lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Event that spawns a random food on a 15 minute cooldown. Rechargeable, infinite charges.

* Glass rod tipped with a beer keg (1) (m) (A)
: Cost: 10,000g Level: 0 Weight: 2lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Rod that casts level 1 Create Booze on a 10 minute cooldown. Rechargeable.
:* Affects con 5

===Rare and Exotic High-Risk Trading===

* Tanuki Leaf (%) (1) (A)
: Cost: 20,000g Level: 40 Charges: 30 Cooldown: 1 minute Weight 0lbs
:: Worn in float
:: Event item that equips the user with the Tanuki Suit. Suit is worn in head, face, about, legs, and feet and must be removed with the leaf, or by dying. How convenient! The leaf does not need to be worn while the suit is worn.
:* Affects saves -10, hp 25, hitroll 5
:* Suit grants infrared, detect hidden, motivation, sneak, fast, 500 move, 400 hp, 250 mana, 15 dex, 5 str, 10 damroll, 15 hitroll

* Instalux brand instant tent (x) (!) (%) (1) (A) (norecharge)
: Cost: 1,500g Level: 1 Charges: 500 Cooldown: 1 minute Weight 0lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Event item that spawns a temporary tent. The tent grants 1000/1000 health/mana regen and can fit 5 people up to 10,000lbs. The tent disappears after 10 minutes or when the person who used the Instalux brand instant tent leaves the room.

* Hooked staff, for thievery (1) (A)
: Cost: 3,000g Level 23 Weight: 3lbs
:: Long bashing weapon
:* Claw attacks (slashing) 6d12 (average 39)
:* Affects dex 5, hitroll 2
:* Weapon flags: sharp, leaf

* Chrome cufflink (!) (1) (noexplode)
: Cost: 1,000g Level 0 Charges: 15 (25max) Cooldown: 0 Weight .5lbs
:: Worn on wrist
:: Wand that casts level 5 Psyke Up with 15 charges (25 max)
:* Affects ac -10, saves -10, wisdom 2, strength 2, magroll 5

* Pair of finely tailored crocodile skin, suede padded leggings (1)
: Cost: 18,000g Level: 31 Weight 10lbs
:: Worn on legs
:: Armor with 25/25/25/25
:* Affects moves 300, mana 200, hp 100, dex 3, damroll 5, hitroll 2

* High-tech steel-reinforced designer tote bag
: Cost: 2,000g Level: 8 Weight: 10lbs
:: Worn on shoulders, hold
:: Container with 100 item capacity, up to 300lbs. Items weigh 30% of normal.
:* Affects ac -15, mana 20, str 3

* Super Potato Plushie (!) (%) (1) (A)
: Cost: 4,500g Level: 3 Cooldown: 3 minutes Weight: 2lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Rod that casts level 3 Create Food on a 3 minute cooldown
:* Affects ac -10, saves -5, moves 50, wis 1, int 1, con 1, dex 1, str 1

* Pouch-laden sash (!) (A) (noexplode)
: Cost: 3,500g Level: 17 Charges: 70 Weight: 3lbs
:: Worn in waist
:: Wand with 70 charges of level 1 Idle Hands
:* Affects ac -10, moves 100, hitroll 5

* Unusually large flask, modified for use as a shield (!) (noexplode)
: Cost: 23,000g Level 71 Units: 300 Weight: 12lbs
:: Worn as shield
:: Drink container with 300 units of whisky. Refillable.
:* Affects ac -40, con 5, damroll 5, magroll 5
:* Grants resistance to draining

* Ring of pure condensed magic (1) (A) (norecharge)
: Cost: 25,000g Level: 60 Cooldown: 15 minutes Weight: 2lbs
:: Worn on finger
:: Rod that casts level 60 Rainbow on a 15 minute cooldown
:* Affects saves -10, mana 600, int 5, magroll 4

(x)= Uncounted (!)= Adhesive (*)= Magic (%)= No Check (m)= Hum (1)= Unique (A)= Anti-mob

Immortal Shops

2019-01-28T23:28:03Z

E-mouse: /* Tea House of Ageatii */ No more dainty cups for entry, because rare ores are a little too valuable

For the sake of vanity, various staff members have set up shops that you can only access by trading in an immortal token. Some of these shops are hidden somewhere in the cleft, others require contacting an immortal.

===Tea House of Ageatii===
Hidden somewhere in the cleft, the Tea House of Ageatii can be accessed by trading in either a clay cup of ageatea. A bank is present inside the shop for your convenience, but make sure you buy everything you came here for before leaving !The shop keeper, the Basilisk Ronin offers the following items:

* Steel Fist Sake (1)
: Cost: 300g Level: 50 Weight: 0lbs
:: It is a potion with the level 50 spells of Attack Up, Encore and Encore

* Steel Soul Sake
: Cost: 300g Level: 50 Weight: 0lbs
:: It is a potion with the level 50 spells of Protect, Encore and Encore

* Rare Ores Grab Bag (%)
: Cost: 500g Level: 0 Charges: 3 Cooldown: 0 minutes Weight: 0lbs
:: It is an event that randomly creates rare crafting materials.

* Masterball (%)
: Cost: 750g Level: 65 Charges: -1 Cooldown: 2 minutes Weight: 1lbs
:: It is an event that will charm and enslave the target, unless it is immune to charm or you already have a pet. It will then vanish.

* Piece of Heart (x)(!)
: Cost: 1500g Level: 0 Weight: 0lbs
:: If you get four of these it will give you an additional 50 max HP.

* Organ of the Evening Calm (m)
: Cost: 2000g Level: 40 Cooldown: 10 minutes Weight: 2lbs
:: It is a rod that can be worn as a shield and it casts a level 150 spell of Calm. It also affects HP by +150 and affects armor class by -40. This is an instrument that can affect Harvest Sprites, too.

* Warp Whistle
: Cost: 4000g Level: 0 Charges: 100 Cooldown: 0 minutes Weight: 1lbs
:: It is an event that will call forth a spiraling vortex that carries you to a warp zone. The warp zone has pipes leading down to many locations around the world.

* Dainty Cup of Ageatea (!)(x)(*)
: Cost: 6000g Level: 0 Weight: 0lbs
:: It is a handy and weightless fountain of tea.

* Stone Mask (!)
: Cost: 10,000g Level: 60 Weight: 2lbs
:: Wearing this mask makes you permanently invisible(unless you enter a fight like the spell) but also makes you vulnerable to weapons, magic and degrades your dexterity by 4. With great power comes...Great weakness?

=== The Wigglytuff Store (Carsanquay)===
[[Wigglytuff]], the mysterious entity, will sell you these items for a frightening amount of gold and a tuna token. This shop requires an immortal to load Wigglytuff, so send an immortal a tell when you're willing to purchase an item. Each item costs 1 tuna token and its gold amount.

* the wand of banishment (*)
: Cost: 1,500g Level: 0 Weight: 3lbs
:: This wand will send the target to a twisted void of shadow and horror. It will disappear when exhausted.
:* It has 40 (max 40) charges of level 100 'Xzone'.

* Lobster Power
: Cost: 3,000g Level: 0 Weight: 1lb
:: This staff, worn on the wrist, will enhance your power. It protects the wearer with a mystical barrier of thorns, enable the wearer to swim, make them slightly tougher, and possibly improve their love life. Or not.
:* This staff improves Constitution by 2, Damroll by 5, AC by -10, adds Swim, and grants the Thorn Shield effect.
:* It has 20 charges of level 50 'Attack Up'.

* a lazy shell
: Cost: 3,000g Level: 0 Weight: 35lbs
:: This huge shell is worn on the torso. It makes the user a little tougher, but makes it harder to move freely. You could easily carry junk in this.
:* This container improves Constitution by 1, worsens Dexterity by 2, and improves AC by -15. It's also a container, which can hold up to 10000 items weighing up to 10000 pounds, in total. The weight of all those items is reduced to 10% of their normal value.

* a minivan
: Cost: 6,000g Level: 60 (70 to purchase) Weight: 25lbs
::* This is a van. You can ride in it! Sweet! Insanely strong people can also hulk out and use this as a weapon. Ouch. I don't even want to think about what that would do to your premiums.
:* A minivan is a level 60 vehicle with seating for 8. It ignores move, and, when wielded as a weapon, affects dexterity by -4, damage roll by 70, armor class by -9,and hit roll by 100. WHAM!

* the pratfallotron
: Cost: 2,250g Level: 0 Weight: 2 lbs
:: This item can be held. What it does is a mystery.

===The Bountiful Garden Cafe & Gift Shop (Lilly)===
The lovely waitstaff of this cafe have plenty to offer,
both food and trinkets alike, as long as you have a Bag
of Grass Seed (and plenty of gold) to exchange in return!
This shop is hidden somewhere in the cleft and costs a single Bag of Grass Seed to enter. A bank is present, so be sure not to leave the shop until you've purchased everything you came here for!

====Cafe====

* A Bountiful Garden designer tote bag
: Cost: 2000g, Level: 8, Weight: 2lbs
:: Elegant and sturdy, this thing holds a lot!
:* Weight Cap: 300lbs, Item Cap: 120, Weight Reduction: 40%
:* Can be held or worn over the shoulder! AC -5, Moves +50, Wis & Int +1

* A Bountiful Garden designer canteen
: Cost: 1000g, Level: 1, Weight: 1lbs
:: One of our best-selling souvenirs!
:* Holds 250 units of liquid, starting with pre-filled root beer.
:* Can be held, HP & Mana +20

* A Caramel Mocha Latte
: Cost: 500g, Level: 50, Weight: 0lbs
:: Great for those who need a quick pick-me-up (and we do mean "quick")!
:* This is a single-use potion with Lv110 spells of "Haste", "Regen" & "Extension"

* An Angelic Energy Drink
: Cost: 650g, Level: 50, Weight: 0lbs
:: Downing one of these is guaranteed to bring about a heavenly experience!
:* This is a single-use potion with Lv80 spells of "Attack Up", "Valor", & "Seraph Form"

* A Slice of Bountiful Garden Cafe's Cherry Cheesecake
: Cost: 50g, Level 5, Weight: 0lbs
:: The signature treat of the Bountiful Garden Cafe! Few leave without having tried some at least once!
:* This is food that provides 15 hours of satiation and 7 hours of fullness.
:* Also heals the consumer by ~450 HP!

* A Whole Bountiful Garden Cafe's Cherry Cheesecake
: Cost: 200g, Level: 5, Weight 1lbs
:: Why stop at just one slice when you can have the whole thing?
:* This is a useable item that creates a slice of cheesecake when activated.
:* Provides 6 slices total, and is no-recharge.

====Gift Shop====

* A Bountiful Garden 'Vol Wolf' Essence Bulb (!)(%)(m)(1)
: Cost: 4000g, Level: 50, Weight: 0lbs
:: A faithful companion for the more-traveled adventurer. Shockingly loyal!
:* This is a useable item that will summon a Lv50 'Vol Wolf' as a pet.
:* It has 1 charge, but does not disappear when exhausted.

* A Bountiful Garden 'Rappy' Essence Bulb (!)(%)(m)(1)
: Cost: 2500g, Level: 30, Weight: 0lbs
:: A cute companion for the seasoned, but not super-experienced, traveler. Cuddly in its own way!
:* This is a useable item that will summon a Lv30 'Rappy' as a pet.
:* It has 1 charge, but does not disappear when exhausted.

* An Adventurously-Cut, Pale Rose Tube Top (!)(%)(1)
: Cost: 3800g, Level: 15, Weight: 1lbs
:: Sleek and provocative, worn only by the most outgoing of ladies. Designed by our resident succubus, Natalie!
:* This is a wand-type item that can be worn on the torso and is flagged AntiMale.
:* Dex +2, AC +25, Hitroll +5, Damroll +10, Mana +100
:* Contains 20 charges of Lv60 'Confuse'

*(Bountiful Garden) Rose Dress Shoes (!)
: Cost: 3200g, Level: 20, Weight: 1lbs
:: Cute in their presentation and easy to move around in! These are the standard footwear apparel for our waitstaff.
:* This is a wand-type item that can be worn on the feet and is flagged AntiMale.
:* AC -20, Int/Wis/Dex +2, Mana +50
:* Contains 30 charges of Lv120 'Mana Restore'

* (Bountiful Garden) A Pleated, Dark Rose Dress Skirt (!)
: Cost: 3000g, Level: 30, Weight: 1lbs
:: Stylish and elegant, this classy skirt is the standard legwear apparel for our waitstaff.
:*This is an armor that can be worn on the legs and is flagged AntiMale.
:* AC: 38 pierce/slash/bash, 45 Magic
:* Int & Wis +2, HP/Mana/Mov +50
:* Adds resistance to iron & silver

* (Bountiful Garden) A Ruffle-Sleeved, Rose-Hued Blouse (!)
: Cost: 3000g, Level: 30, Weight: 1lbs
:: Professional with a touch of grace, this pretty blouse is the standard upperwear apparel for our waitstaff.
:* This is an armor that can be worn on the torso and is flagged AntiMale.
:* AC: 38 pierce/slash/bash, 45 magic
:* Int & Wis +2, HP/Mana/Mov +50
:* Adds resistance to charm & mental

* A Soft and Cuddly Flammie Plushie (!) (1)
: Cost: 8000g, Level: 85, Weight: 1lbs
:: A soft, furry and squishy representation of the gentle Manabeast herself. A strong magical aura surrounds this toy; known to bring happiness to those who can afford one!
:* This is a wand-type item that can be held.
:* Mov +150, Mana/HP +250, Damroll/Hitroll +5, Str & Wis +2
:* Contains 20 charges of Lv100 'Float'

* A Giant Sunflower Pillow (!)(1)
: Cost: 3500g, Level: 12, Weight: 3lbs
:: A bright decoration to throw around the house, yet sturdy enough to bring into combat!
:* This is a furniture-type item that increases HP/Mana regen rates by 300%,
:* can hold one person, and can be worn as a shield.
:* HP +75, Con +3, AC -20, Mana +30

* A Golden Ankh of Venus (!)(%)(1)
: Cost: 2500g, Level: 30, Weight: 0lbs
:: A symbol of the female gender itself, this trinket is guaranteed to turn your world upside down! Or is it inverted? We're not too sure, really. Has a unique effect if used with the full Bountiful Garden Waitress' ensemble.
:* This is a useable item that can be worn around the neck. When used, it will cast Lv30 'Change Sex' & 'Extension' on the user if a target is not selected, or a specified player if one is selected.
:* It has unlimited charges, with a cooldown of 3 minutes.
:* Wis & Int +2, Mana +50

* A Flammie Jetbike (!)(1)
: Cost: 6800g, Level: 50, Weight: 5lbs
:: Highly prized and consistently ranked at the top of most customers' "Most-Wanted" lists, this blazing vehicle boasts speed and durability, as well as easy carrying ability when not in use!
:* This is a vehicle that is ignores movement during usage, is fast, and flying. It can hold 2 people, and can be worn on the body.
:* Damroll +3, AC -10, HP +75, Mana +50, Mov +100

* A Piece of Mind (!)(x)
: Cost: 1500g, Level: 1, Weight: 0lbs
:: The long-awaited counterpart to the Piece of Heart, obtaining four of these will boost your maximum Mana by 50!
:* Collect four of these and turn them in to an Immortal to obtain +50 Max Mana.

* A Token of Expansion (!)(x)
: Cost: 3500g, Level: 1, Weight: 0lbs
:: Bigger houses, more room, happier guests! This token allows you to expand your house space by one room. Useful when you just don't have enough restring tokens (damn that stingy Lilly)!
:* Give this token to an Immortal in charge of Player Housing to waive the cost of 1 room! Mobs, objects, and anything else not included.

* A Token of Conversion (!)(x)(1)
: Cost: 3000g, Level: 85, Weight: 0lbs
:: You ask, and we answered! This token allows an adventurer to exchange 50 practice sessions for 5 training sessions! The power involved is a fickle one, however, and only one of these may be used per incarnation!
:* This is a useable item that will deduct 50 practices and bestow 5 trains to the user. The player is then flagged for the playthrough, and may not use another one until reaching the appropriate level of their next remort session.

=<(The Magician's Trick)>=
If you've received a black silk top hat with a red velvet band, you can visit Ozlynn's magical shop! By dropping the hat and entering it (which will promptly pick it back up), you can freely purchase these 4 items:

* A Magikoopa Kap (1)
: Cost: 750g, Level: 16, Weight: 4 lbs
:: Use this hat to recall with style and hustle your goods to unsuspecting citizens, like a true Magikoopa! (Do not use in nonsmoking areas)
:* This hat is an event that boosts INT by 1 and Mana by 30. It has 4 charges of recall.

* A solid brick of cheese
: Cost: 100g, Level:1, Weight: 10 lbs
:: This big brick of cheese will provide 5 hours of satiation and 20 hours of fullness, but be warned: Eating 10 pounds of cheese in a single sitting might cause one to feel lethargic.

* A twinkle, twinkle little star
: Cost: 60g, Level: 5, Weight: 1 lbs
:* This little star will guide you through darkness forever!.. Or at least 240 hours, whichever comes first. It affects Mana by 10 and saves by -2

* A fancy bottle of orange juice
: Cost: 320g, Level: 10, Weight 3 lbs
:: Start your day out right. Start your day with orange juice!
:* This is a drink container that holds 95 units, starting with orange juice.

===For Serious Magicians===
These items can only be purchased by trading in a tophat for each transaction. Magical!

* A Personal Dimension
: Cost: 6,200g, Level 30, Weighing 1 lbs.
:: Holds 15 items weighing up to 10,000 pounds, Reducing weight by 100%
:: Worn in float slot
:* Adds regeneration, HP/Mana/MV +110

* A Warp Star
: Cost: 14,500g, Level 90 vehicle, Weighing 20 lbs.
:: Holds 2 people, affects regen by 100%
:: Fast, flying, indoors and ignores MV
:: Worn in shield slot
:* Affects hitroll by -3, AC -45, damroll +16, HP/Mana +120
:: Note: It cannot be used by mobs

* A pair of hypno-goggles (%)
: Cost: 3,600 Level 35 event, weighing 2 lbs
:: Has 100(max 100) charges with a cooldown of 120 minutes, with norecharge
::Worn in face slot
:: It will hypnotize/tame the target, then enslave them!
:* Affects Con +2, AC -10, HP +40

* A shiny cummerbund (%)
: Cost: 13,500g, Level 50 rod, Weighing 0 lbs.
:: Casts level 50 Dazzle, with a 10 minute cooldown.
:: Worn in waist slot
:* Affects AC -10, Mana +150, HP +50

* A large, striped bow tie (!)
: Cost: 12,500g, Level 80 rod, Weighing 1 lbs.
:: Casts level 10 Charge, with a 5 minute cooldown, with norecharge
:: Worn in neck slot
:* Affects AC -5, HP +60, Mana +380, WIS +2, Int +2

* A pair of glossy tap dancing shoes (!)
: Cost: 11,000g Level 35 event, weighing 4 lbs.
:: Has infinite charges with a 20 minute cooldown, with norecharge
:: Worn in feet slot
:: Tap dance in ways that might make you kick, break someone's heart, or get pumped and charged!
:* Affects HP +30, Mana +40, AC -20, MV +100, dex +2

* A flashy black suede cape, lined in red silk
: Cost: 10,500g, Level 38 rod, weighing 8 lbs.
:: Casts level 15 Invisibility, with a 30 minute cooldown, with norecharge
:: Worn in about slot
:*Affects AC -16, MV +30, Mana +110, HP +105, adds float
:: Note: It cannot be used by mobs

* A sterling silver cufflink (!)
: Cost: 1000g, Level 0 staff, weighing 0 lbs.
:: Has 20(max 25) charges of level 40 Haste
:: Worn in wrist slot
:* Affects damroll/hitroll +5, Ac -10, dex +2, adds ice shield

* Some rare candy
: Cost: 1,000g, Level 0, Weighing 0 lbs.
:* Use this to get a quick 10,000 experience points!

* A false memory (x)
: Cost 15,000g, Level 0, weighing 0 lbs.
:: Give this memory to Ozlynn and have her jam it into your head, but be warned, she'll take a memory in exchange!
:* Trade in a skill NOT in your current class, which you remorted into the class you are now, for another skill of another class.
:* The skill you wish to receive may not be a qspell, megamagic, a style(for simplicity's sake), or a skill that's outside what the current classes have available to them.
:* Other restrictions may apply.

= The Black Market (Cooper) =
Hidden somewhere in the Cleft, the bartender of The Thieves' Den will accept a coin made of pyrite featuring the smug grinning mug of Cooper himself for access to The Black Market. Certain items can only be acquired by exchanging the coin!

===Surplus Contraband===

* Terrible, glittering potion (1)
: Cost: 350g Level: 30 Weight: 4lbs
:: Potion that casts level 80 Darkmatter and level 80 Bleeding.
::* It is not recommended to drink these yourself.

* Bottled enchantment essence
: Cost: 250g Level: 8 Light: 80 hours Weight: 5lbs
:: Used as light
:* Affects ac -2, damroll 1

* Bag of unusual food (x) (q) (A)
: Cost: 25,000g Level: 40 Weight: 0lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Event that spawns a random food on a 15 minute cooldown. Rechargeable, infinite charges.

* Glass rod tipped with a beer keg (1) (m) (A)
: Cost: 10,000g Level: 0 Weight: 2lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Rod that casts level 1 Create Booze on a 10 minute cooldown. Rechargeable.
:* Affects con 5

===Rare and Exotic High-Risk Trading===

* Tanuki Leaf (%) (1) (A)
: Cost: 20,000g Level: 40 Charges: 30 Cooldown: 1 minute Weight 0lbs
:: Worn in float
:: Event item that equips the user with the Tanuki Suit. Suit is worn in head, face, about, legs, and feet and must be removed with the leaf, or by dying. How convenient! The leaf does not need to be worn while the suit is worn.
:* Affects saves -10, hp 25, hitroll 5
:* Suit grants infrared, detect hidden, motivation, sneak, fast, 500 move, 400 hp, 250 mana, 15 dex, 5 str, 10 damroll, 15 hitroll

* Instalux brand instant tent (x) (!) (%) (1) (A) (norecharge)
: Cost: 1,500g Level: 1 Charges: 500 Cooldown: 1 minute Weight 0lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Event item that spawns a temporary tent. The tent grants 1000/1000 health/mana regen and can fit 5 people up to 10,000lbs. The tent disappears after 10 minutes or when the person who used the Instalux brand instant tent leaves the room.

* Hooked staff, for thievery (1) (A)
: Cost: 3,000g Level 23 Weight: 3lbs
:: Long bashing weapon
:* Claw attacks (slashing) 6d12 (average 39)
:* Affects dex 5, hitroll 2
:* Weapon flags: sharp, leaf

* Chrome cufflink (!) (1) (noexplode)
: Cost: 1,000g Level 0 Charges: 15 (25max) Cooldown: 0 Weight .5lbs
:: Worn on wrist
:: Wand that casts level 5 Psyke Up with 15 charges (25 max)
:* Affects ac -10, saves -10, wisdom 2, strength 2, magroll 5

* Pair of finely tailored crocodile skin, suede padded leggings (1)
: Cost: 18,000g Level: 31 Weight 10lbs
:: Worn on legs
:: Armor with 25/25/25/25
:* Affects moves 300, mana 200, hp 100, dex 3, damroll 5, hitroll 2

* High-tech steel-reinforced designer tote bag
: Cost: 2,000g Level: 8 Weight: 10lbs
:: Worn on shoulders, hold
:: Container with 100 item capacity, up to 300lbs. Items weigh 30% of normal.
:* Affects ac -15, mana 20, str 3

* Super Potato Plushie (!) (%) (1) (A)
: Cost: 4,500g Level: 3 Cooldown: 3 minutes Weight: 2lbs
:: Worn in hold
:: Rod that casts level 3 Create Food on a 3 minute cooldown
:* Affects ac -10, saves -5, moves 50, wis 1, int 1, con 1, dex 1, str 1

* Pouch-laden sash (!) (A) (noexplode)
: Cost: 3,500g Level: 17 Charges: 70 Weight: 3lbs
:: Worn in waist
:: Wand with 70 charges of level 1 Idle Hands
:* Affects ac -10, moves 100, hitroll 5

* Unusually large flask, modified for use as a shield (!) (noexplode)
: Cost: 23,000g Level 71 Units: 300 Weight: 12lbs
:: Worn as shield
:: Drink container with 300 units of whisky. Refillable.
:* Affects ac -40, con 5, damroll 5, magroll 5
:* Grants resistance to draining

* Ring of pure condensed magic (1) (A) (norecharge)
: Cost: 25,000g Level: 60 Cooldown: 15 minutes Weight: 2lbs
:: Worn on finger
:: Rod that casts level 60 Rainbow on a 15 minute cooldown
:* Affects saves -10, mana 600, int 5, magroll 4

(x)= Uncounted (!)= Adhesive (*)= Magic (%)= No Check (m)= Hum (1)= Unique (A)= Anti-mob

December 2018: R-Y Factory Ruins

2018-12-29T06:03:28Z

E-mouse:

Area of the Month for November 2018 is the [[R-Y_Factory_Ruins|R-Y Factory Ruins]]!

A template format for your review is below; click 'edit' at the top of the page, copy-pasta from the <nowiki>----</nowiki> to the next <nowiki>----</nowiki>, and fill in the gaps!

('''''Yes,''''' a wiki account is required to edit the page and therefore post your review, but take heart: The wiki is hosted by the Cleft itself, not a third party!

----

'''Player: You!(Class/Level)'''

'''Review Date(s): '''

'''Descriptions: X/10'''

How does the area's room descriptions(descs) work for you? Do they give you a good idea of the area? Do things that stand out in the desc and NEED explanation GET that, either from flavor text(extra-descs) or NPCs in the room or anything?

What about mobiles(mobs) and their descriptions? Can you get a decent mental image of who or what this NPC/monster is? Do they respond when you talk or interact with them?

Some areas have interact-able objects like fountains. Do they stack up well also?

'''Balance: X/10 (OR N/A)'''

(NOTE: combat will be most accurately gauged when your character is in the area's suggested level range.)

If this area has combat, how does it feel? Does anything jump as horribly overpowered and impossible to deal with? What about the flipside, anything far too easy to beat?

Are purchased or rewarded items at the appropriate strength levels? Is the effort required to obtain rewarded items reflected in their usefulness (or uniqueness and fancifulness)

'''Attractions: X/10'''

Why would you suggest someone come to this area?
Is it just a good place to grind experience(lots of mobs)?
Does the area provide a chunk of good gold and loot?

What about the quests? Does this area's quests feel properly done, or is there some part of it that you feel needs work?

For towns, are the shops good? Any other non-combative attraction for the area?

'''Connections: X/10 '''

How easily and well does this area connect to its nearby areas?
Does it make sense thematically to be connected to the areas it is?

'''Personal'''

Any comments you'd like to make that you don't feel apply to the other sections can go here!

----

'''Player:''' Emouse (Dollmage, L100, ~18 remorts); used alt Erik (Knight, L21-23, 0 remorts)

'''Review Date(s):''' 12/27/2018-12/29/2018

'''Descriptions: 4-6/10'''

The room and mob descriptions seem serviceable at a first pass, though extra descs for extra details in a room (useful or not) seem to be pretty minimal. I do appreciate that the buttons specify the relative height of the floors if you look at them, at least. All things considered, it's... serviceable, but very minimal. Room descs and flavory extras are not the strong point here and could be expanded on: A lot of the things in the lab could be fun to describe, but get no real explanation. Would that be an unnecessary distraction? Maybe.

Interacting with things in more detail, the extra Roomba gimmick is cute (though I'm not sure how effective it is?) and I do like the Shy Guy researcher, flavor-wise. Combat progs are all flavorful and appropriate to the situation. The mobs here are pretty solid, I think. Dropped items all have functional descriptions, but not spectacular.

Your guide R66-Y is pretty alright, too: While arguably annoying, the frequent quest tips are appropriate for a guide on a lower-level, introductory quest. He shows a modest amount of personality in the dialog, as well, and he's good support for fighting through the area. But he doesn't seem to have any combat progs to make life more interesting... something for that may not be a bad idea. Perhaps something to improve his survivability, considering the danger he gets in during the final ambush of the area. Defend? Cure Beam?

R66-Y could also have more use as a tutorial guide... I don't recall the game really having a tutorial about "hey sometimes you get attacked with no warning", and R66-Y certainly seems like a helpful-but-not-entirely-handholdy guide. A warning as you approach the entrance that the enemies there will attack on sight could be appropriate, perhaps with a guide about whatever support skills may be proper to add to R66-Y.

(Not sure it fully counts as part of Sulfataska or R-Y, but the plasma wisps on the way don't have any talk script or real activity... should they?)

'''Balance: 7/10'''

The consumable loot here is kinda nice to have, considering how the place feels slightly dangerous solo without a decent pet as support. Of course, since you're expected to come in here with that pet, that's to be expected. As long as you only get into solo fights... encountering twin RX-series at the generator entrance is kinda nasty for someone not heavily armed. Though I DID only use one healing fernet, of several found in the zone already. That was probably more resource management than anything.

Cash drops of Always 0 is kind of a shame... the drops here do sell okayish for the level, so I'm not sure whether it's a good idea or not. Adding cash drops may take the edge off for people with bloated inventories or not familiar with selling things at Truce... maybe only some enemy types?

The 'final boss' fight of RXes ganging up on R66-Y is... less pleasant. The action there is entirely fitting and appropriate, but it makes actually saving him really hard without coming in overpowered or having a way to heal him. Toss isn't really an option, since the quests for that require visiting much higher-level areas, and Rescue as a knight failed me due to the current-target-only limitation on its effect. Although since he counts as a pet, he could be ordered to drink them... maybe a special script to have him go into Defend mode in that room and beg you to heal him, with using "give me fernets and an order to drink them" as a suggestion, especially if you aren't a priest? Could function as a tutorial for the kind of things you can do with Order...

Most of the equipment drops here are... not great, but okay? Compared to the medium armor in Wutai, the drops and quest armor are mostly at least comparable, and better in some areas (mostly weight). But there are a few outliers I'm not as sure about: The lab coat from the researcher seemed to be well below par and worthy of a modest boost, the rod quest reward for "a wandering spirit" is the only rod for the spell I can think of but I'm not sure it would be helpful, and the Mirage Hand is... REALLY good. Aside from those three, everything here seems pretty usable without being overpowering. There's not a whole ton of variety, though... each mob type just has one equipment drop, there's only two or three items of use I saw available out of combat, and if those aren't something you can use, well, you're SOL. Additional non-combat hidden items for other slots of similar strength to those that exist would be a nice addition, or a second set of per-enemy equipment drops for another chance to roll the dice and get something nice.

'''Attractions: 5/10'''

R-Y is kind of a gamble to try and figure out your first go around. The stuff there is really only useful at the levels listed by the zone, and it isn't the most trivial to navigate or puzzle out. Between the aggro enemies, risk of being teamed up on, and imperfect chance of useful drops, the place is only really nice if you go into it knowing what to expect. If you do, it's a nice romp and a way to get select gear on a budget, or a VERY nice melee weapon worth considering for remorting. If you don't, it's a treacherous den of ambushes with potential for getting teamed up on and 0 direct cash drops - not especially enticing.

The place is nice to visit and it's helpful to know about stuff worth getting there, but the limited mob variety/population, unreliable item availability, lack of cash drops, and pet-slot restriction on the main quest are all deterrents from making it a regular visit. As it stands, R-Y is really hit-or-miss in value depending on what you get when you first investigate it. Making it a little more 'hit' on finding something nice even if you don't get through the whole main quest debacle is probably a good idea.

'''Connections: 4/10'''

R-Y Factory is referred to as being in lava vents connected to Barrel Volcano, and its relative location fits this, but aside from those mentions the area is very self-contained and almost overwhelmingly consists of Chrono Trigger references. The factory IS supposed to be functionally abandoned, though, so creating more connections is a dicey affair. Hmm... unless it's a new subregion that was previously unavailable or undiscovered, I suppose... or other dead adventurers. It'd be nice to see more variety on this front as well, but it's hard to do more than what's been done without significant changes.

'''Bugs/Exploits:'''

There's a button here you can press here that, like a certain other infamous Button, spawns enemies that attack. Unlike the level 90 enemy button, however, not only does this one spawn two enemies, but there's no limit to how many you can get in a room. Smacking it enough times before using AoEs can get you dozens of kills at once. It's low enough level and there's no cash drops that the implications of this are limited, but it's still very silly - especially if you conjure up enough to get yourself disconnected due to the amount of text it would feed back! This COULD be tamed the same way as the 90s button (don't spawn more enemies on bad press if there are X others in the zone/game/whatever) but I don't know if it's a serious concern. Haven't tried too hard to like actually ACTUALLY crash the game with mobcount or one-round text output or anything, but it may be a consideration if we get someone particularly malicious.

I've gone through the quest flags already, but it's possible to neglect returning to Cain at the end, let the region repop, and collect multiple Mirage Hands without completing the main quest (which results in repeats of R66-Y and the Mirage Hand becoming unavailable) - is this intended behavior?

'''Overall: B-'''

R-Y Factory is a low-to-medium difficulty/complexity quest and equipment area with a somewhat straightforward overarching quest and some guidance, but no free rides. The quest rewards are modest but reasonable for the difficulty, and the equipment is decent for its level but doesn't have a long-term niche. It's a good zone, but it's not great. Some more variance and detail in the flavor and reliability or staying power from the items and loot could be a significant help, but it's very servicable as-is.

'''Recommendations:'''
I went over some of the (perceived) problems above and snuck in some possible solutions but let's start giving it its own section.

* Expand R66-Y's role as guide and support:
** Use the semi-guided nature of this quest/zone as an excuse to teach about handling pets and slightly more advanced game mechanics like the order command, aggro enemies, and follower behavior
** Give R66-Y in-game skills and flavor to match the source material ('Cure' for Cure Beam, 'Darkside' for Laser Spin, and maybe 'Bash' for Robo Tackle fit Robo's early in-game skillset; pick and choose what would be appropriate!)

* Make loot more reliable:
** Adding cash drops to some of the mobs would give a near-guaranteed failsafe for coming out of the place with something, which is a comfort. I'm thinking RXes, Phantom Researcher, and maybe roombas... not the stuff you can summon infinitely with buttons.
** Include more standard equipment for the area with similar item quality using other equipment slots or stat specializations, to make it more likely to get something nice if you aren't using Projectile, Melee, and/or a shield. These could be added to the existing mobs' drop tables or hidden by other means (secret containers, social responses, new hidden rooms, etc)

* Expanded connection/lore and details:
** There's missed opportunities for extra descriptions and hidden things in here, especially in the lab areas. Which are worthwhile I won't guess at, but it would be a low-impact way to add flavor to the area.
** Expanding on what happened to the factory after arriving in the Cleft and things from behind the scenes or caused by adventurer antics would be a way to shake things up or even add a sub-area to the region if it's considered worthwhile: Finding a way deeper into the actual testing/development workplaces of the labs (instead of just the generators and computers) for a wider variety of phantom researcher/security bot antics beyond the Shy Guy researcher and current robots could be an interesting way to show what else has happened here. Alternatively, hiding a few things in the remains of unfortunate adventurers that made mistakes you should probably avoid repeating could operate as a subtle quest hint and extra reward for paying attention. I'll leave the specifics to you guys at this point...

----

[[Category:Area of the Month]]

October 2018: Barrel Volcano

2018-10-20T06:42:26Z

E-mouse:

Area of the Month for October 2018 is the [[Barrel_Volcano|Barrel Volcano]]!

A template format for your review is below; click 'edit' at the top of the page, copy-pasta from the <nowiki>----</nowiki> to the next <nowiki>----</nowiki>, and fill in the gaps!

('''''Yes,''''' a wiki account is required to edit the page and therefore post your review, but take heart: The wiki is hosted by the Cleft itself, not a third party!

----

'''Player: You!(Class/Level)'''

'''Review Date(s): '''

'''Descriptions: X/10'''

How does the area's room descriptions(descs) work for you? Do they give you a good idea of the area? Do things that stand out in the desc and NEED explanation GET that, either from flavor text(extra-descs) or NPCs in the room or anything?

What about mobiles(mobs) and their descriptions? Can you get a decent mental image of who or what this NPC/monster is? Do they respond when you talk or interact with them?

Some areas have interact-able objects like fountains. Do they stack up well also?

'''Balance: X/10 (OR N/A)'''

(NOTE: combat will be most accurately gauged when your character is in the area's suggested level range.)

If this area has combat, how does it feel? Does anything jump as horribly overpowered and impossible to deal with? What about the flipside, anything far too easy to beat?

Are purchased or rewarded items at the appropriate strength levels? Is the effort required to obtain rewarded items reflected in their usefulness (or uniqueness and fancifulness)

'''Attractions: X/10'''

Why would you suggest someone come to this area?
Is it just a good place to grind experience(lots of mobs)?
Does the area provide a chunk of good gold and loot?

What about the quests? Does this area's quests feel properly done, or is there some part of it that you feel needs work?

For towns, are the shops good? Any other non-combative attraction for the area?

'''Connections: X/10 '''

How easily and well does this area connect to its nearby areas?
Does it make sense thematically to be connected to the areas it is?

'''Personal'''

Any comments you'd like to make that you don't feel apply to the other sections can go here!

----

Player, Vashka, lvl 100 Surgeon, 6th Remort. --Token'd

Descriptions.
The descriptions at some points get a bit repetative, but given it's a maze of twisty, windy vulcanic passageways, this both makes sense, and actually adds to the atmosphere.
The mobs themselves, could in some cases definetly use some color-coding to give them some pop, but their descriptions are functional and descriptive enough as it is.
It's definetly one of the area where you most need to pay attention to extra-descs, which works, but makes it more glaring when you expect some bit of detail in the main-description to have an extra-desc, but there's no responding text. This could use some work, but then again, it would possibly detract from the functional extra-desc hints too.

Balance.
Obviously, since I went in over-leveled, I can't judge how balanced they are or feel. But then again, going in at-lvl probably wouldnt help much there either in my case.
That said, the enemies have the right level of health and power they should for their level range, and while their combat-progs are somewhat basic at times, there's a few genuinely enjoyable surprises they can pull off tucked away.
Given it also has multiple sub-areas, there are quasi mini-bosses that stand out as More Difficult, which could lead to nasty surprises to people not used to such a broad area range, and un-used to Looking at enemies to gauge their level. Which is actually a good thing; it's instructional on the hazards of haphazard killing.

Attractions.
Barrel Volcano, has a Ton of various Attractions, from exceptional Loot, to Mining spots, to varied strata's of Quest nearly across the whole spectrum of the level range.
Well integrated, lots of variaty, plenty to recommend going there, including non-combat in the Mining.
The Quests themselves are instructional, with multiple means of completing them in some cases, all educating would be explorers on valuable lessons, like looking at all them Extra Descs, or how to find hidden treasure. That said, they are quite challenging first-time tried, but I wouldnt see them changed a bit, since the Rewards are mostly proportionate to the hoops jumped through.
Shops there are, sell pretty much what you'd expect, straight-forward, no fuss, get what you're there for.
That said, it feels rather barren at times for Mob Density, it is not really a combat-heavy zone for its sheer size. Plenty of variaty, not a lot of quantity so one tends to go there for the Puzzles, more then the Experience, which is understandable, it's a Volcano, not a wild-life habitat, but it could use more monsters all the same.

Connections
Its situated in a place that makes sense, a mountain range. Single Approach, also, sensible. Could use some inter-connectivity with the other nearby tunnel-sets maybe, but that's about it for Connectivity.

Personal Note
Barrel is a place that grows on you. The first time you go in, most people are frustrated, and quickly leave. It is one of the most Mapped places, actual physical maps, just to make sense of the various lay-out puzzles and secret passage-ways it hides.
It's frustrating, but beloved all the same, and you genuinely feel a sense of accomplishment the first time you finally figure out how it all is supposed to Work.
Further, it's withstood the test of time pretty well. A few things need a tweak to make them more appealing, but they're not really necisary either. It's a Volcano, if you try to give a new paintjob, it'll likely just scorch it right off again.

----

----

'''Player: Abaril(Summoner/100/6th remort)'''

'''Review Date(s): 10/16/18'''

'''Descriptions: 6/10'''

The room descriptions are, for the most part, very well-written and do a serviceable job of describing a volcano. The "In a Tube," "Further Down the Tube," "Another Branch of the Tube" type room names gets a little monotonous, but I think that's probably something that comes with the territory of being in a volcano. The bright and dark reds are used well throughout the area in the room names, but the rest of the area is definitely lacking in color. I would expect mobs named Magmus and Pyrosphere to have some reds, yellows and whites to give them some more character. The same would apply to the few items I've found in the area.

'''Balance: N/A '''

I went in at level 100, and as you can see in the personal below, I don't find the area compelling enough to level in.

'''Attractions: 5/10'''

I would give this a much lower rating from my own personal experience, but I'm bumping it up because I've heard that the area has some fantastic quest rewards. That being said, I haven't seen many of them. I've only seen the one "shop," and I have to say that the 2-hour light from the Pumpkinhead is puzzling and almost pointless.

It's definitely not a place to use for regular leveling, and I haven't seen any drops that I would consider notable.

'''Connections: 7/10 '''

The volcano is easily accessible and on a standard path for newbies. I am unaware of any connections beyond the main entrance to it at this time.

'''Personal'''

I have never really done a lot in Barrel Volcano for two reasons: the level range (21-45) spans 25 levels. At higher levels, that might be ok, but for someone looking for a place to level right after Moogle Village, it doesn't really work for me. You just wouldn't take a fresh level 21 character in there and hope to accomplish very much. Second, the mob density is extremely low. As a place to level, I would not recommend it at all. And as a place for questing and exploring, I have found it to be boring and frustrating at the same time. Maybe I will give it another shot one day, especially if I see multiple rave reviews from other players!

----

'''Player:''' Emouse (Dollmage, L100, ~10 remorts)

'''Review Date(s):''' 10/16/2018-10/20/2018

'''Descriptions: 7/10'''

Barrel's descriptions are generally detailed and functional, with lots of little details to serve as hints for what can be done in a room when there's something hidden going on. The only problem is that it's virtually all very dry and descriptive, with very few colors and little thematic 'personality' for the tone of the area. Compared to a lot of other areas, the ability to wade through magma here seems... understated. I mean, yeah, videogames, but still.

There's a lot of details and they all work quite well, but a little more spice and color would be nice. For example, most mobs and items have no coloration in their shortdesc at all.

That said... there's an argument to be made for leaving Barrel relatively plain for the sake of emphasizing its main attraction and value as a player-teaching tool. Such a thing as too much color turning quests into skimming descriptions instead of paying attention! Whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing for this particular location, I don't know.

'''Balance: 6-8/10''' - combat approximated with single level 40 charmie with autoassist disabled

Combat balance is one of Barrel's weaker points. I've had level 23 and 32 mobs in the same room, which is a substantial level gap, and both were wandering one room down from a mining location that can spawn a level 45 enemy with a burst damage elemental attack that can be an Innate-inherent weakness. Wrong innate kirby exploring at low levels without wanting to pick a fight? RIP. Come in unprepared and combat runs the gamut from tame to dangerous to getting nearly one-shot when at a serious disadvantage. The combat progs all feel servicable for the level range of the associated mob, but the level range you can encounter in even a single room is a little severe.

The mazey tunnels of the central volcano are the main offender here, where you can end up attacking a level 32 Magmar when hoping to fight a level 23 Magmus. It would be nice to have a better way of cordoning off the mob level ranges into clearer sub-regions (like the Quor Nest and Blargg fire lake) but I also worry that making the area even more sprawling and/or more densely populated would make Barrel even more painful to figure out.

Item balance for Barrel is kind of... bipolar? The easy-to-get items are somewhere between garbage to small-level-niche in value, but the hard-to-get questy items are really good and fit special niches useful at any level range. Even at level 100 I like to have two or three of the main Barrel rewards on me; more when preparing heavily-armed minions. Which is... probably good? The main attraction of Barrel is the challenging-but-rewarding navigation and quest puzzling: Quest rewards that have a niche use even if you go back well after the level range is a great way to make them worthwhile. Does that mean they're TOO good? I don't know.

Barrel doesn't offer much in the way of partial rewards for making it partway through the main quest sequence without completing it, or for fighting around while trying to figure out what's going on. Some hidden rupees or other sellable treasures in questy locations and other hidden rooms may help entice people to keep going and see what's at the end of the line. (It's worth it.)

'''Attractions: 8/10'''

Barrel volcano is a horrifying maze of hidden passages with no obvious direction, limited clues, few available supplies, and serious noncombat demands to receive its valuable rewards.

What's crazy is that that's exactly what's good about it. Barrel Volcano is an excellent introduction to a quest-heavy zone where combat and levelling aren't the main attraction, and the goal is to solve puzzles for exceptionally good equipment or other perks to otherwise improve your abilities and add to your bag of tricks for major fights. It's one of the most accessible locations where the game takes off the kid gloves for quest hints and providing supplies, insists you prove your navigation and puzzle abilities, and rewards you well for doing so. More monsters in the area would be a diversion and possible threat while trying to figure the place out, and more hints could weaken its value as training for other intensely questy areas further down the line. While those are obvious options for making Barrel less frustrating to learn, I'm not sure it's necessarily wise.

Barrel's main problems are more about its context than its contents. Its accessibility is a double-edged sword: The good part is that it's easy to find and reach to get started or try and pick up again after taking a break for supplies or thinking; The bad part is that it's easy to arrive in when you don't know what you're getting into and getting frustrated by the lack of monsters and direction compared to the surrounding areas. Its level is also in an awkward spot where someone new could think "Hey, I only need to figure out this one location for a full 20 levels!" only to be caught off guard by the intense quest and navigation requirements... several levels after the tutorial describing/reminding about general quest hints becomes unavailable, with no warning that this zone is Different.

Considering the qinfo content deep in Barrel Volcano and how abandoned it's supposed to be, I'm not too keen on adding a infodump greeter to give you a shiny overarching quest that guides you to figre out the area, but the place could use some sort of extra warning that the place is for learning and equipping, not for growing stronger through combat. I'd also like to see some sort of more permanent resource for general quest tips, and as one of the first places a player is likely to encounter them being so strongly required, Barrel could be a good location... hmmm. I have a more elaborate idea in mind on this front, but I think I'll just run it by Cooper for now.

'''Connections: 5/10'''

Within the zone itself, Barrel Volcano has about the right mix of wild enemies from its source material and sensible 'immigrants' from other games that would be in the area after the development there was abandoned, so the stuff inside the volcano is probably about as well-connected to other areas as it's going to get.

Outside, however, is more mixed. Volcano by a mountain range? Works. Level range starting not far above adjacent areas? Alright. References to it in other locations? Mostly for quests instead of nearby room/area descriptions, which isn't ideal. The lead-in from Sulfataska feels a little lacking, since the sharp rise to enter the volcano peak is done entirely in room descs with no actual "up" movement. As for other nearby areas, Melchior and Mabe Village don't blink at or acknowledge being near a semi-active volcano... it might be fair to revisit the surrounding areas and the rooms leading up to Barrel Volcano to fill in the implications of having a volcano right there and show the impact of that. But that's probably beyond the scope of this kind of review...

'''Bugs/Exploits:'''

Not sure it really fits the category, but... what's up with 'gem'-type items? I assume it's functionally hardcoded and can't be removed, but I'm not sure whether it's worth keeping around the way it is. If nothing else, there's no helpfile for the itemtype at the moment. Unless there's something special about wanting the gem-types that can be dug up here to be only (easily) sold at the pumpkinhead geologist at the 100% he offers or a larger revamp of other locations to cause another distinction, it doesn't seem necessary...

Hinopio's talkprog mentions bambino bombs working when you drop them in a room, which seems to be outdated information from before they were turned into Event-type items. Certainly doesn't seem to work for the bombable wall near his store. Oops?

Quor don't seem to have talkprogs, though everything else in the area seems to.

The rooms by the front doors of the powerplant have... odd movement rules. While on the outside south end, I've had charmed followers leave the room on their own (which normally doesn't happen) and once inside, the exit north has no door but when you go north into that battery room the exit back south now has a closed door. There's a switch to re-open the main door right there, but you can go South without opening it anyway, stranding the koopa engineer inside. Both of these exits can be used by minions even when they shouldn't be wandering off. Something isn't working right here, but I'm not sure what it is.

A few damage affects are missing damage numbers in the area. Most of these were from testing with a level 40 charmie in combat, and so seen from 3rd person:

Oerlikon spiky ball roll

Stumpet Va Va Voom/Fireball launch

Rocks falling on your head when you enter certain rooms

The heat scorches you! (vertical shaft of "Open Chasm" rooms, western vents)

Scorching magma fills your lungs! (quest location)

'''Overall: B'''

Barrel really does grow on you. It's real easy to hate when you first try to do it because it demands so much with few immediate rewards, but once you manage to pull it off, in hindsight it turns out to be a harsh but effective teacher for navigational game mechanics, what quests demand, and ways of hiding and providing hints in the game. Its position as an early (second, even?) requirement for one of the larger overaching quests in the game means you're going to end up needing to get over this hurdle sooner or later: And when you do, it'll help you handle the rest.

What holds it back is the fact that it's specialized toward this purpose, and the 'school of hard knocks' philosophy makes it a very tough early hurdle with not much to fall back on. Increasing mob density with better player control over what to pick fights with would make it more usable for levelling, but could be a distraction from the quest expectations. Supplying clearer hints like colored commands or un-hiding objects and exits would make navigation easier, but could reduce value as a learning tool. I'm largely fine with Barrel as it is, all things considered, but some sort of... supplementary information or support that doesn't interfere with its current setup could help provide more warning about its frustrations and requirements. What sort of efforts should be put into that?

----

[[Category:Area of the Month|*]]

October 2018: Barrel Volcano

2018-10-20T05:40:11Z

E-mouse:

Area of the Month for October 2018 is the [[Barrel_Volcano|Barrel Volcano]]!

A template format for your review is below; click 'edit' at the top of the page, copy-pasta from the <nowiki>----</nowiki> to the next <nowiki>----</nowiki>, and fill in the gaps!

('''''Yes,''''' a wiki account is required to edit the page and therefore post your review, but take heart: The wiki is hosted by the Cleft itself, not a third party!

----

'''Player: You!(Class/Level)'''

'''Review Date(s): '''

'''Descriptions: X/10'''

How does the area's room descriptions(descs) work for you? Do they give you a good idea of the area? Do things that stand out in the desc and NEED explanation GET that, either from flavor text(extra-descs) or NPCs in the room or anything?

What about mobiles(mobs) and their descriptions? Can you get a decent mental image of who or what this NPC/monster is? Do they respond when you talk or interact with them?

Some areas have interact-able objects like fountains. Do they stack up well also?

'''Balance: X/10 (OR N/A)'''

(NOTE: combat will be most accurately gauged when your character is in the area's suggested level range.)

If this area has combat, how does it feel? Does anything jump as horribly overpowered and impossible to deal with? What about the flipside, anything far too easy to beat?

Are purchased or rewarded items at the appropriate strength levels? Is the effort required to obtain rewarded items reflected in their usefulness (or uniqueness and fancifulness)

'''Attractions: X/10'''

Why would you suggest someone come to this area?
Is it just a good place to grind experience(lots of mobs)?
Does the area provide a chunk of good gold and loot?

What about the quests? Does this area's quests feel properly done, or is there some part of it that you feel needs work?

For towns, are the shops good? Any other non-combative attraction for the area?

'''Connections: X/10 '''

How easily and well does this area connect to its nearby areas?
Does it make sense thematically to be connected to the areas it is?

'''Personal'''

Any comments you'd like to make that you don't feel apply to the other sections can go here!

----

Player, Vashka, lvl 100 Surgeon, 6th Remort. --Token'd

Descriptions.
The descriptions at some points get a bit repetative, but given it's a maze of twisty, windy vulcanic passageways, this both makes sense, and actually adds to the atmosphere.
The mobs themselves, could in some cases definetly use some color-coding to give them some pop, but their descriptions are functional and descriptive enough as it is.
It's definetly one of the area where you most need to pay attention to extra-descs, which works, but makes it more glaring when you expect some bit of detail in the main-description to have an extra-desc, but there's no responding text. This could use some work, but then again, it would possibly detract from the functional extra-desc hints too.

Balance.
Obviously, since I went in over-leveled, I can't judge how balanced they are or feel. But then again, going in at-lvl probably wouldnt help much there either in my case.
That said, the enemies have the right level of health and power they should for their level range, and while their combat-progs are somewhat basic at times, there's a few genuinely enjoyable surprises they can pull off tucked away.
Given it also has multiple sub-areas, there are quasi mini-bosses that stand out as More Difficult, which could lead to nasty surprises to people not used to such a broad area range, and un-used to Looking at enemies to gauge their level. Which is actually a good thing; it's instructional on the hazards of haphazard killing.

Attractions.
Barrel Volcano, has a Ton of various Attractions, from exceptional Loot, to Mining spots, to varied strata's of Quest nearly across the whole spectrum of the level range.
Well integrated, lots of variaty, plenty to recommend going there, including non-combat in the Mining.
The Quests themselves are instructional, with multiple means of completing them in some cases, all educating would be explorers on valuable lessons, like looking at all them Extra Descs, or how to find hidden treasure. That said, they are quite challenging first-time tried, but I wouldnt see them changed a bit, since the Rewards are mostly proportionate to the hoops jumped through.
Shops there are, sell pretty much what you'd expect, straight-forward, no fuss, get what you're there for.
That said, it feels rather barren at times for Mob Density, it is not really a combat-heavy zone for its sheer size. Plenty of variaty, not a lot of quantity so one tends to go there for the Puzzles, more then the Experience, which is understandable, it's a Volcano, not a wild-life habitat, but it could use more monsters all the same.

Connections
Its situated in a place that makes sense, a mountain range. Single Approach, also, sensible. Could use some inter-connectivity with the other nearby tunnel-sets maybe, but that's about it for Connectivity.

Personal Note
Barrel is a place that grows on you. The first time you go in, most people are frustrated, and quickly leave. It is one of the most Mapped places, actual physical maps, just to make sense of the various lay-out puzzles and secret passage-ways it hides.
It's frustrating, but beloved all the same, and you genuinely feel a sense of accomplishment the first time you finally figure out how it all is supposed to Work.
Further, it's withstood the test of time pretty well. A few things need a tweak to make them more appealing, but they're not really necisary either. It's a Volcano, if you try to give a new paintjob, it'll likely just scorch it right off again.

----

----

'''Player: Abaril(Summoner/100/6th remort)'''

'''Review Date(s): 10/16/18'''

'''Descriptions: 6/10'''

The room descriptions are, for the most part, very well-written and do a serviceable job of describing a volcano. The "In a Tube," "Further Down the Tube," "Another Branch of the Tube" type room names gets a little monotonous, but I think that's probably something that comes with the territory of being in a volcano. The bright and dark reds are used well throughout the area in the room names, but the rest of the area is definitely lacking in color. I would expect mobs named Magmus and Pyrosphere to have some reds, yellows and whites to give them some more character. The same would apply to the few items I've found in the area.

'''Balance: N/A '''

I went in at level 100, and as you can see in the personal below, I don't find the area compelling enough to level in.

'''Attractions: 5/10'''

I would give this a much lower rating from my own personal experience, but I'm bumping it up because I've heard that the area has some fantastic quest rewards. That being said, I haven't seen many of them. I've only seen the one "shop," and I have to say that the 2-hour light from the Pumpkinhead is puzzling and almost pointless.

It's definitely not a place to use for regular leveling, and I haven't seen any drops that I would consider notable.

'''Connections: 7/10 '''

The volcano is easily accessible and on a standard path for newbies. I am unaware of any connections beyond the main entrance to it at this time.

'''Personal'''

I have never really done a lot in Barrel Volcano for two reasons: the level range (21-45) spans 25 levels. At higher levels, that might be ok, but for someone looking for a place to level right after Moogle Village, it doesn't really work for me. You just wouldn't take a fresh level 21 character in there and hope to accomplish very much. Second, the mob density is extremely low. As a place to level, I would not recommend it at all. And as a place for questing and exploring, I have found it to be boring and frustrating at the same time. Maybe I will give it another shot one day, especially if I see multiple rave reviews from other players!

----

'''Player:''' Emouse (Dollmage, L100, ~10 remorts)

'''Review Date(s):''' 10/16/2018-10/20/2018

'''Descriptions: 7/10'''

Barrel's descriptions are generally detailed and functional, with lots of little details to serve as hints for what can be done in a room when there's something hidden going on. The only problem is that it's virtually all very dry and descriptive, with very few colors and little thematic 'personality' for the tone of the area. Compared to a lot of other areas, the ability to wade through magma here seems... understated. I mean, yeah, videogames, but still.

There's a lot of details and they all work quite well, but a little more spice and color would be nice. For example, most mobs and items have no coloration in their shortdesc at all.

That said... there's an argument to be made for leaving Barrel relatively plain for the sake of emphasizing its main attraction and value as a player-teaching tool. Such a thing as too much color turning quests into skimming descriptions instead of paying attention! Whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing for this particular location, I don't know.

'''Balance: 6-8/10''' - combat approximated with single level 40 charmie with autoassist disabled

Combat balance is one of Barrel's weaker points. I've had level 23 and 32 mobs in the same room, which is a substantial level gap, and both were wandering one room down from a mining location that can spawn a level 45 enemy with a burst damage elemental attack that can be an Innate-inherent weakness. Wrong innate kirby exploring at low levels without wanting to pick a fight? RIP. Come in unprepared and combat runs the gamut from tame to dangerous to getting nearly one-shot when at a serious disadvantage. The combat progs all feel servicable for the level range of the associated mob, but the level range you can encounter in even a single room is a little severe.

The mazey tunnels of the central volcano are the main offender here, where you can end up attacking a level 32 Magmar when hoping to fight a level 23 Magmus. It would be nice to have a better way of cordoning off the mob level ranges into clearer sub-regions (like the Quor Nest and Blargg fire lake) but I also worry that making the area even more sprawling and/or more densely populated would make Barrel even more painful to figure out.

Item balance for Barrel is kind of... bipolar? The easy-to-get items are somewhere between garbage to small-level-niche in value, but the hard-to-get questy items are really good and fit special niches useful at any level range. Even at level 100 I like to have two or three of the main Barrel rewards on me; more when preparing heavily-armed minions. Which is... probably good? The main attraction of Barrel is the challenging-but-rewarding navigation and quest puzzling: Quest rewards that have a niche use even if you go back well after the level range is a great way to make them worthwhile. Does that mean they're TOO good? I don't know.

Barrel doesn't offer much in the way of partial rewards for making it partway through the main quest sequence without completing it, or for fighting around while trying to figure out what's going on. Some hidden rupees or other sellable treasures in questy locations and other hidden rooms may help entice people to keep going and see what's at the end of the line. (It's worth it.)

'''Attractions: 8/10'''

Barrel volcano is a horrifying maze of hidden passages with no obvious direction, limited clues, few available supplies, and serious noncombat demands to receive its valuable rewards.

What's crazy is that that's exactly what's good about it. Barrel Volcano is an excellent introduction to a quest-heavy zone where combat and levelling aren't the main attraction, and the goal is to solve puzzles for exceptionally good equipment or other perks to otherwise improve your abilities and add to your bag of tricks for major fights. It's one of the most accessible locations where the game takes off the kid gloves for quest hints and providing supplies, insists you prove your navigation and puzzle abilities, and rewards you well for doing so. More monsters in the area would be a diversion and possible threat while trying to figure the place out, and more hints could weaken its value as training for other intensely questy areas further down the line. While those are obvious options for making Barrel less frustrating to learn, I'm not sure it's necessarily wise.

Barrel's main problems are more about its context than its contents. Its accessibility is a double-edged sword: The good part is that it's easy to find and reach to get started or try and pick up again after taking a break for supplies or thinking; The bad part is that it's easy to arrive in when you don't know what you're getting into and getting frustrated by the lack of monsters and direction compared to the surrounding areas. Its level is also in an awkward spot where someone new could think "Hey, I only need to figure out this one location for a full 20 levels!" only to be caught off guard by the intense quest and navigation requirements... several levels after the tutorial describing/reminding about general quest hints becomes unavailable, with no warning that this zone is Different.

Considering the qinfo content deep in Barrel Volcano and how abandoned it's supposed to be, I'm not too keen on adding a infodump greeter to give you a shiny overarching quest that guides you to figre out the area, but the place could use some sort of extra warning that the place is for learning and equipping, not for growing stronger through combat. I'd also like to see some sort of more permanent resource for general quest tips, and as one of the first places a player is likely to encounter them being so strongly required, Barrel could be a good location... hmmm. I have a more elaborate idea in mind on this front, but I think I'll just run it by Cooper for now.

'''Connections: 5/10'''

Within the zone itself, Barrel Volcano has about the right mix of wild enemies from its source material and sensible 'immigrants' from other games that would be in the area after the development there was abandoned, so the stuff inside the volcano is probably about as well-connected to other areas as it's going to get.

Outside, however, is more mixed. Volcano by a mountain range? Works. Level range starting not far above adjacent areas? Alright. References to it in other locations? Mostly for quests instead of nearby room/area descriptions, which isn't ideal. The lead-in from Sulfataska feels a little lacking, since the sharp rise to enter the volcano peak is done entirely in room descs with no actual "up" movement. As for other nearby areas, Melchior and Mabe Village don't blink at or acknowledge being near a semi-active volcano... it might be fair to revisit the surrounding areas and the rooms leading up to Barrel Volcano to fill in the implications of having a volcano right there and show the impact of that. But that's probably beyond the scope of this kind of review...

'''Bugs/Exploits:'''

Not sure it really fits the category, but... what's up with 'gem'-type items? I assume it's functionally hardcoded and can't be removed, but I'm not sure whether it's worth keeping around the way it is. If nothing else, there's no helpfile for the itemtype at the moment. Unless there's something special about wanting the gem-types that can be dug up here to be only (easily) sold at the pumpkinhead geologist at the 100% he offers or a larger revamp of other locations to cause another distinction, it doesn't seem necessary...

Hinopio's talkprog mentions bambino bombs working when you drop them in a room, which seems to be outdated information from before they were turned into Event-type items. Certainly doesn't seem to work for the bombable wall near his store. Oops?

Quor don't seem to have talkprogs, though everything else in the area seems to.

The rooms by the front doors of the powerplant have... odd movement rules. While on the outside south end, I've had charmed followers leave the room on their own (which normally doesn't happen) and once inside, the exit north has no door but when you go north into that battery room the exit back south now has a closed door. There's a switch to re-open the main door right there, but you can go South without opening it anyway, stranding the koopa engineer inside. Both of these exits can be used by minions even when they shouldn't be wandering off. Something isn't working right here, but I'm not sure what it is.

A few damage affects are missing damage numbers in the area. Most of these were from testing with a level 40 charmie in combat, and so seen from 3rd person:
Oerlikon spiky ball roll
Stumpet Va Va Voom/Fireball launch
Rocks falling on your head when you enter certain rooms
The heat scorches you! (vertical shaft of "Open Chasm" rooms, western vents)
Scorching magma fills your lungs! (quest location)

'''Overall: B'''

Barrel really does grow on you. It's real easy to hate when you first try to do it because it demands so much with few immediate rewards, but once you manage to pull it off, in hindsight it turns out to be a harsh but effective teacher for navigational game mechanics, what quests demand, and ways of hiding and providing hints in the game. Its position as an early (second, even?) requirement for one of the larger overaching quests in the game means you're going to end up needing to get over this hurdle sooner or later: And when you do, it'll help you handle the rest.

What holds it back is the fact that it's specialized toward this purpose, and the 'school of hard knocks' philosophy makes it a very tough early hurdle with not much to fall back on. Increasing mob density with better player control over what to pick fights with would make it more usable for levelling, but could be a distraction from the quest expectations. Supplying clearer hints like colored commands or un-hiding objects and exits would make navigation easier, but could reduce value as a learning tool. I'm largely fine with Barrel as it is, all things considered, but some sort of... supplementary information or support that doesn't interfere with its current setup could help provide more warning about its frustrations and requirements. What sort of efforts should be put into that?

----

[[Category:Area of the Month|*]]

September 2018: Safari Zone

2018-09-09T01:04:49Z

E-mouse:

Area of the Month for September 2018 is the [[Safari_Zone|Safari Zone]]!

A template format for your review is below; click 'edit' at the top of the page, copy-pasta from the <nowiki>----</nowiki> to the next <nowiki>----</nowiki>, and fill in the gaps!

('''''Yes,''''' a wiki account is required to edit the page and therefore post your review, but take heart: The wiki is hosted by the Cleft itself, not a third party!

----

'''Player: You!(Class/Level)'''

'''Review Date(s): '''

'''Descriptions: X/10'''

How does the area's room descriptions(descs) work for you? Do they give you a good idea of the area? Do things that stand out in the desc and NEED explanation GET that, either from flavor text(extra-descs) or NPCs in the room or anything?

What about mobiles(mobs) and their descriptions? Can you get a decent mental image of who or what this NPC/monster is? Do they respond when you talk or interact with them?

Some areas have interact-able objects like fountains. Do they stack up well also?

'''Balance: X/10 (OR N/A)'''

(NOTE: combat will be most accurately gauged when your character is in the area's suggested level range.)

If this area has combat, how does it feel? Does anything jump as horribly overpowered and impossible to deal with? What about the flipside, anything far too easy to beat?

Are purchased or rewarded items at the appropriate strength levels? Is the effort required to obtain rewarded items reflected in their usefulness (or uniqueness and fancifulness)

'''Attractions: X/10'''

Why would you suggest someone come to this area?
Is it just a good place to grind experience(lots of mobs)?
Does the area provide a chunk of good gold and loot?

What about the quests? Does this area's quests feel properly done, or is there some part of it that you feel needs work?

For towns, are the shops good? Any other non-combative attraction for the area?

'''Connections: X/10 '''

How easily and well does this area connect to its nearby areas?
Does it make sense thematically to be connected to the areas it is?

'''Personal'''

Any comments you'd like to make that you don't feel apply to the other sections can go here!

----

'''Player:''' Emouse (Dollmage, L100, ~5 remorts)

'''Review Dates:''' 9/7/2018-9/8/2018

'''Descriptions: 5/10'''

The mobs in the Safari Zone are good, but not great: The lookdescs and combat progs are effective descriptions and show some personality, but outside of that the mobs are kinda lifeless. None of the pokemon have talkprogs to demonstrate non-violent interaction, there's no text while idle or interaction between pokemon in the wild, and Todd's involvement for his quest is... minimal. And easily sequence broken - you can walk straight to the Fearow and skip the rest of his requests. Of which I remember more than the one he currently makes, so I'm not sure if it's even operating as intended. You'd also think his enthusiasm would lead him to babble a lot about the pokemon in the region if prompted when following, but that's pure radio silence as well...

Gotta say, the graffiti adds a lot of personality to the room descriptions. The river/pond region has a lot of little bonus descriptions that add life to the area... but the rest of the zone doesn't. The room descriptions in the caves and forest area are good, but there's little further details on items of interest from trying to 'look' at them, aside from one or two quest-related tidbits. Complete lack of detail on the Dustox colony in the forest and the various stalactites and water pools in the cave is saddening. It feels like the one N W W from the entrance of the caves would even be a fountain...?

'''Balance: 7/10?'''; approximated by having level 30 pet solo battles

The mostly-questing-prices Level 30 Knight-like pet that I brought here to fight could usually win solo battles before the Anger Rating maxxed out, but took nontrivial amounts of damage in the process, even with the modestly-interesting combat progs most of them had. Except against Gyrados, which is appropriate given the level jump. RIP.

In terms of drops and loot, there are some finds here that... aren't very good, but have niche uses, and the pokemon in the area drop enough cash that the 100 silver entry fee isn't a huge deterrant. However, the drops have... pretty bad sell value, and feel rare for the narrow range where it's useful. For example, I managed to clear out the forest twice without getting the Scyther equipment drop.

I'm not sure how to feel about the frequency of the pokemon food dropping from everything in the area: It's such a poor food item that it can't be used to stave off hunger, but I don't know how common it should be to have it as an option to offset the anger meter mechanic for classes that aren't damage-focused, or if it should offer much side use for players that don't. Would 1 satiation/1 fullness to make it at least count as a snack for the shameless be too much?

'''Attractions: 3/10'''

The Safari Zone is in a weird place in terms of attractiveness. If you know enough about it already and have an aggressive enough skillset, it can be a servicable levelling spot with some niche drops available, but if you haven't figured the area out already, there's no real indication that sticking around is worth it - especially since the main attraction to the area is fighting the pokemon without being caught by the warden, when both the warden and Todd appear to discourage you from fighting them. Some more guidance that "yeah, beat 'em up but be careful" is the real point would probably make the area clearer. Perhaps Todd could drop a hint that you'll need to at least provoke pokemon to get the photos he needs and let the rest happen as it will?

There are some hidden things hinted at or with requirements from other zones that are definitely worthwhile, but I don't know whether to count those as attractions for the Safari Zone, or attractions for those other zones that require you to look around further. They don't really add incentives to stay at the safari zone - just to visit briefly to get something else in an area you're already overlevelled for and might as well leave immediately afterwards. The items available are... usable, but not especially impressive outside of some distinct niches.

Outside of the purely pokemon-flavored sightseeing there's not a lot here that you can't do better at elsewhere. Tonoe and Arlia aren't much further from Viorar with significantly wider options and more relevant quests...

'''Connections: 2/10'''

Another rough spot. The Safari Zone is entirely pokemon-based aside from references in the graffiti and a few external quest things that are hard to count as the Safari Zone specifically. But... it is specifically an animal reserve for pokemon and that's exactly what the Warden would do, so it's hard to justify further connection to the rest of the Cleft.

At most, other visitors of different races/whatever as NPCs with hints or advice could be added, or adding references to external resources that the Warden would be willing to employ to try and keep the pokemon safe; hidden Monotoli-brand security cameras, for example. Still, whether the warden would have/use the resources to do this is difficult to say.

The connections for Safari Zone are poor, but adding more is also difficult to justify. Hard to say what to do with this one: Probably best left as a low priority outside of a serious zone overhaul.

'''Bugs/Exploits:'''

Something I'm not sure is a bug - you can attack and kill Todd, the starter NPC for the only real quest in the zone. No special response or acknowledgement is given for this, and he's level 0. Should he be classified as either noattack or a player ally?

'''Overall: C-'''

The Safari Zone is not one of the Cleft's stronger zones. Between the mediocre attractions there and its dead-end location it's very easy to skip over or forget about entirely, though there are some neat points hidden away if you make a point of looking. Is it worth doing more than once? Well... not really. Todd doesn't even offer a mini medal for his miniquest, which is so small and simple that's even understandable. There's not much to do here aside from get into fights to level, but the zone flavor even discourages that. It looks so promising when you start out with the river and pond areas and all the graffiti descriptions, but falls apart pretty quickly once you go further and start really interacting with the area. If anyone particularly feels like revamping things, this is probably a good candidate for it.

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[[Category:Area of the Month|*]]

July 2018: Faron Woods

2018-08-16T00:26:52Z

E-mouse:

Area of the Month for July 2018 is [[Faron_Woods|Faron Woods]]!

A template format for your review is below; click 'edit' at the top of the page, copy-pasta from the <nowiki>----</nowiki> to the next <nowiki>----</nowiki>, and fill in the gaps!

('''''Yes,''''' a wiki account is required to edit the page and therefore post your review, but take heart: The wiki is hosted by the Cleft itself, not a third party!

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'''Player: You!(Class/Level)'''

'''Review Date(s): '''

'''Descriptions: X/10'''

How does the area's room descriptions(descs) work for you? Do they give you a good idea of the area? Do things that stand out in the desc and NEED explanation GET that, either from flavor text(extra-descs) or NPCs in the room or anything?

What about mobiles(mobs) and their descriptions? Can you get a decent mental image of who or what this NPC/monster is? Do they respond when you talk or interact with them?

Some areas have interact-able objects like fountains. Do they stack up well also?

'''Balance: X/10 (OR N/A)'''

(NOTE: combat will be most accurately gauged when your character is in the area's suggested level range.)

If this area has combat, how does it feel? Does anything jump as horribly overpowered and impossible to deal with? What about the flipside, anything far too easy to beat?

Are purchased or rewarded items at the appropriate strength levels? Is the effort required to obtain rewarded items reflected in their usefulness (or uniqueness and fancifulness)

'''Attractions: X/10'''

Why would you suggest someone come to this area?
Is it just a good place to grind experience(lots of mobs)?
Does the area provide a chunk of good gold and loot?

What about the quests? Does this area's quests feel properly done, or is there some part of it that you feel needs work?

For towns, are the shops good? Any other non-combative attraction for the area?

'''Connections: X/10 '''

How easily and well does this area connect to its nearby areas?
Does it make sense thematically to be connected to the areas it is?

'''Personal'''

Any comments you'd like to make that you don't feel apply to the other sections can go here!

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'''Player:''' Emouse (Dollmage, L100, ~4 remorts)

'''Review Dates:''' 8/14/2018-8/15/2018

'''Descriptions: 7/10'''

Disclaimer: I have unrealistic standards for frequency of roomdesc responses.

The descriptions and items here are good, but not incredible: The first few rooms heading west from the Zigolis Swamp entrance have one interesting things to find, and the lead-in to the main spidery area has some neat descriptors, but the swampy rooms are sparsely described and there are a few things that I was curious about but have no description:

The spidery cave area has a few things like eggsacs and captured prey that feel like great excuses for extra flavor/detail/interaction but go unused.

Speaking of the spiders: Phase Spiders, Sword Spiders, and the miniboss spider all attack when 'talk'ed to. This is a common enough result, but there's no extra flavor text about their reaction before/in the process of attacking, like some other mobs in other areas. Worth adding?

The Ranch Entrance room has a few interesting tidbits that could have more detail (gate and vines/briers, mostly), and the desc for the orchard's olive press is missing the "bucket" keyword used as part of the object in the room desc.

Really, everything here is functional and present, just a bit sparse after the first few rooms.

'''Balance: N/A'''; estimates below

I can't comment on combat balance due to being, uh, well out of the level range. Sorry. But I can try to comment on the loot:

Item Balls and their occasional Surprise are pretty neat. A fair resource for early-game supplies. I think these are good as they are.

What I've seen of drops from the Spiders are interesting and appropriate for the level. I like it. Although I am confused by the sword drop being an exotic weapon...? well, it does make some sense under the circumstances.

But I don't like the current version of the Manly Fish. The level 0 equipment that they carry and drop produces lots of heavy, low-value clutter you're really better off ditching, but ends up in every body of one of the most frequent mobs in the area. Very annoying. It's tempting to let them drop generic level 5 gear as from Crystia so the loot is worth lugging off to sell or use if you get the right kind, but I don't know if that would make them too dangerous or lucrative for the area.
On the upside: their bonus wand drop is wonderful on multiple levels.

That said, after writing that, I encountered a few level 6 equipment drops from the Beastman Mender, Clockwork Knight, and Territorial Ossier that are comparable in effectiveness and lower in price - aside from the increased hassle to obtain them, I think these are nice.

In terms of aesthetics and combat complexity, I do like that the Mender/Clockwork Knight spawn and operate as a group - there are very few team battles in the cleft that don't turn into a dogpile or utter chaos. Probably really easy to break, though...

'''Attractions: 3/10'''

Faron Woods is... nice to check out once, but has no real staying power. The main quest and descriptions are nice and it's good for resupplying at low levels at a low cost, but once you've seen it once there's not much reason to look back. The other loot and mob density in Faron are both poor, making it lackluster for XP and unreliable for equipment pickups - in a lot of ways it's better to just level up elsewhere and catch up on gear in a higher-level zone. Faron Woods is an area you pass through, not an area you stay in. Do we want to change that?

The fact that nothing here carries silver to loot doesn't help, either.

That said: The Lantern Refill for sale is a very unique attraction. I don't know of any other source of Phlogiston currently available, though I suspect it was implemented as a qskill without being finalized in helpfiles or wiki data. From the current casting level of 1 I saw it restore 12 hours to a level 80 light source... I don't know whether level affects its potency or not, but I do like having the option available for recharging rare lights. With the risks announced in the helpfile, of course. It's very distinctive, but it doesn't feel like expanding the scale of this is an appropriate way to make Faron stand out more.

'''Connections: 9/10'''

For theme and environments the surrounding areas all work well. My only complaint would be the transition between Faron Woods and Midnight Gardens being abrupt - a little more hint about what you're heading into/out of in the one or two last Faron Woods rooms would be nice. I wish I could better navigate the route to reach Carnival Night Zone vs. Midnight Gardens, but I think that's my own fault...

'''Bugs/Exploits:''' (because this is me)

Corporal Wolfdog is involved in quests here, but can be attacked and is not immune to Summon/Charm. He's currently being held hostage in my player house. (Kind of.)

As much as I love the idea of having an actually coordinated opponent group, neither the Beastman Mender or the Clockwork Knight are immune to summon/charm. Haven't seen what happens if you drag one off without the other but I doubt it's been accounted for.

'''Overall: C+'''

Faron Woods is in a messy spot: The only other 5-10 area near Viorar is Luon Trail, so it ends up with little competition for the time for equipment, supplies, and quests. However, it's also a short-lived path from point A to point B for several other zones in the area, so it can't afford to be very complicated or involved, either. That in mind: It looks like it's functional as a resupply/minor loot area while going for more serious battles in Kakariko or Midnight Gardens, possibly with curbstomps in Zigolis Swamp. Where Luon Trail is well-populated and provides food and water with reliable silver income, Faron provides healing items and equipment from combat without questing. It's servicable as an intermediary area, but is a bit lacking in, ah, spice to make it stand out and be worth sticking around in.

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[[Category:Area of the Month|*]]