Well it's certainly been a while has it? Yeah, sure thing. By now I bet the Cynical staff have either scrolled down to the bottom of my post or are bickering at me for not getting on with it, haha. Anyways, here we go.
Booj, Raven and his team removed the storyline from the server. Although it had some good points to it I simply didn't think it was required, and that there were not enough elements in the actual server itself for the storyline to consistently survive in the overworld. This server is more of a UN'ish server in gameplay, not in quality so I think it was for the best. Therefore...
Storyline - 7.5/10 - All servers with no storyline but CAN PROVE that the storyline in a server is not necessary and can still attract the player (or in this case the reviewer) to continue gaming gets a 7.5/10
Creativity - 8/10 - Still the same as my last review. This is a server which knows what kind of audience it is targeting and has customized it's server towards it. It's not like some servers where they want to appeal to role-players yet have a largely community oriented server along with some hardcore economy based aspects (like Graal Bomy Moon once was). The server doesn't have one big thing that makes people go "wow, I want to play it" but instead has consistently interesting things all over the map that makes Cynical, well, Cynical. It's own unique playerworld. I also like it how it appeals to guilds as well (with the guild town, but by now that may not have the same effect as if they wanted a few months ago) but not in a messy way, the guild houses and buildings fit in well with the overworld. I know you guys have some blank spaces in your overworld (bottom center of your map a big green space) and I'd prefer you fill up that space with something, but you still have the level requirements.
Levels - 9.5/10 - I can finally begin to appreciate some of the level work here, that's why you got +.5 more compared to last time I reviewed. The levels are probably as good as they're going to get when it comes to a playerworld made with the regular tileset. Nothing outrageous or controversial here, it looks very nice. I don't think I found any major tile errors which is always a plus, but I thought some of the tiles (like in the vase quest) may have been a bit harsh on the eyes and also some locations where you placed baddies may not have been the best. Mass baddie respawning points isn't the best thing to do (the octupi in the large bottom right hand corner of the map quest). Still, those are really minor problems, good work on the levels!
NPC's 6 /10 - The NPC's are still much the same as before, I didn't find anything new, but I may have missed something, that's why I gace it a -1 compared to my last review. Standards for playerworlds and their NPC's will continue to rise. We've seen some revolutionary NPC's created in the last little while, especially on Graal Kingdoms. I'm not saying that you guys have to make Graal Kingdoms quality NPC's, but I thought there could have been a bit more here. You've got all the basic NPC's like hammers, shovels, swords and the whole bit, but nothing that stood out and impressed me. Maybe you guys can make a few more better NPC's later on, but I am still keeping in mind that your server isn't out to impress with flashy NPC's, but to create a good stable gaming environment. The GUI had some minor changes in it, and I think you can still set your HP bar to customize your style, but the q menu was very nice, just make sure you leave some room to add onto it in the future (if you have more towns etc). Please inform me if I'm wrong about any of your NPC info I posted.
Quests - 6.5/10 - Not bad at all. You guys had lots of quests on your server and you even mentioned some weren't listed (unfortunately, I was unable to find any). Each quest has a different requirement, whether it be certain items or different NPC's you must possess. Some of them were tough to get into as well so that's good to always offer a challenge. I am still having the problem, however, with the quest content. Some of them are still primarily slash the baddies even if they do have a sequence of steps you must complete to get to the end (go see person X, then send this to person Y, enter quest Z and so forth). The reason your mark jumped +1 from my last review was because of the new ice quest (I didn't get to play all of it because for some reason it wouldn't work for me, but definately an improvement) and also some of the quests were modified a bit.
Overall Score: 37.5/50
Cynical's status:
Pass!
Edit: They finished their website, it's at
http://cynical.aotaonline.com
As for who this server goes to after the website, I'm not sure. I'm afraid I haven't seen Nemesis for quite some time, not in game or on AIM :(
Torankusu has already passed it, but I don't know if he needs it again or not, that's why I need to talk to Nemesis as soon as possible.
Anyhow, good job to the Cynical team.
