Forum Brawl #6 - FINAL VOTING PHASE

[CleanOnion]

Spoiler for Royalty:

For this task I chose to cut past any lore and get straight to the plan itself.

TTG: Excess lore was helpfully succeeded by a compressed plan. Flooding the lair is good for the health of the tentacles however the plan makes plenty of assumptions for example the height of the gold mine, minion's lack of ability to swim, etc. Overall decent.

PC: Plan seems a little generic and not nearly specific enough. "something to distract the dragon" - probably a good idea to specify exactly what that is, etc. Submission seems more like the speech given at the start of planning rather than the plan itself. I'll admit to being a little tired of hearing about Dragon's Demise, though it is generally critical to the plan.

FROGS: This plan is not very realistically but I enjoyed the meta-ish twist on the prompt.
 It read more like a description of each role at first however overall this was definitely the most creative take and the winner for me.

Spoiler for Bard/Wizard:

FROGS: Bard submission was very basic, even including the image of the dragon from their challenge which looks rather out of place. Very little context to the maze.
Wizard submission was even more basic. It would have been nice to see a more complicated Bard image to justify a more in-depth Wizard component.

PC: Bard submission is more artistically-oriented and by itself rather nice. Hey, nobody said Aurdinas had to be on the ground. The text implied that this is a recent development, which is a shame, but hey ho!
Wizard submission is a little forced, it seems that the Bard submission was intended as a standalone without thought to annotations. To me, the lore doesn't really add much though others may feel otherwise.

TTG: The link to the jsfiddle should have been at the top and much more prominently featured, however I respect the separation between Bard and Wizard submissions.
I very much appreciate that the Bard submission was made in plasticine and it lends itself very well to annotation, however the layout itself is ultimately very basic.
I can't fault the Wizard submission, so that's the winner for me.

S7: Definitely an imaginative take on the prompt however it could have done with a little more context, I think. How did the tiles get there? How did the (presumably) dragon manage to get so many traps in there? The concept is a little convoluted for my taste.

Bard task was a tie between PC and TTG.

Spoiler for Enchanter/Crusader:

PC: I'm really unsure how the concept of bolts work. If Crossbow is able to deal 10 lots of 4 damage to creatures per turn that's incredibly OP,
 no?
It would have been nice to see any sort of explanation for the deck and for the cards picked, some justification for how it could beat the Dragon. Based on available evidence I'll have to assume that it doesn't.

FROGS: I like the concept of the weapon, but it would have been nice to know what it actually was - "Aura Glutton" doesn't give my any details and the brief description only specified that it was a weapon, nothing specific. However, the card is very well designed around Gold Stash.
The deck is a little dull but the explanation more than makes up for it. Seems like a good strategy to me. This component was the best in my opinion.

S7: Card needs a spellcheck but other than that it seems alright to me. It works well with the deck as well.
Synergy between the card and deck is nice although I have no idea what's going on in the battle log.

TTG: Card is a soft Shockwave on a stick with a couple added features. Seems a little odd that one weapon would have both the ability to freeze and thaw but it would definitely be a good card when with Arctic Squid for example. This card was the winner for me.
No Squid, but Permafrost Shield is there for the card synergy. Description was odd, referencing the deck with an elaborateness that felt very forced.

Spoiler for Scribe:

PC: Beautifully written. I was very glad not to have to read an essay,
 and this was an enjoyable shift. I believe it's written Jonathan, however, not Johnathan.

TTG: A very lengthy submission. As if in retaliation to PC's error, the Jarl is referred to as Queen. It seems like TTG really abused the "this will become canon if you win" clause -
 I'm a little uncomfortable with how much dialogue was forced onto Zyardran, and the lore onto PC itself. The trend continues for the other two teams, however it must be said that the research into the other teams is evident.

FROGS: Jarl =/= Queen, but it was nice to see a short and sweet paragraph for each team.
 The difference between having reasons that each team died and reasons for them not actually reaching Aurdinas was also a nice touch, as well as the context for the story. This was my winner.

S7: It's not really clear which team is being talked about when, and what happened to them,
 with the exception of TTG. That part that is explained well, is explained very well.

Spoiler for Bonus:

FROGS: The fall of Aurdinas seems to have played a major role in future culture, with a whole day based on it. Text was full of description, enough that the story felt very rehearsed and more like propaganda than a voluntary tale.

S7: Story is stylistically very good - just enough detail to be feasibly passed down via word of mouth, but not too much.
 I would have liked a little more exaggeration but this was good nonetheless.

PC: "Our scribes, with vocabulary as sharp as Zyardran's blade, [...] described the battlefield as burning fast" I shall assume Zyardran fights with a baseball bat jk. Submission read more like a biased documentary than a tale, with very little exaggeration. I'm also unsure about the prominence of the plagiarised youtube video in the middle of the text.
Looks like all my previous comments about Jarl =/= Queen were wrong! Sorry, everyone

TTG: Sung medium fits this task perfectly, although sound quality and lyrical fitting-together isn't quite up to the standard set previously. This could of course be explained away by saying that it would be the people singing this,
 not the Emperor, though overall I'm not sure whether the audio adds or detracts to the submission. Based just on the text however, it's very good as something to be passed down through word of mouth.

I gave equal voints to S7 and TTG.

Spoiler for Challenges:

Challenge 1: Computer Wizard
Again, FROGS present a .EXE file which I can't run, therefore TTG win by default. It's a shame as I'd've liked to be able to compare the two.

Challenge 2: Scribe Story
TTG presents a series of handy fact-files in the context of military clearance levels, perhaps from the perspective of someone who doesn't quite agree with the doctrine. PC presents the tale of Zyardran's childhood, and also a couple of sentences about how the other members of the team popped out of nowhere. They both had their virtues but overall I preferred TTG's.

Challenge 3: Representative Colors
Why does red armour protect against anything? Some of PC's artistic choices are questionable, while S7's at least seem more founded in their lore. Having said that, their choice of explaining the colours seems like they weren't sure what the task was asking - and neither am I, to be frank. PC haven't set a fantastic example of what they meant. Overall.
 I appreciated that PC put more effort into the real image as opposed to S7's MS Paint.

Challenge 4: Dragons Are People Too
aaaaaaaaaaa both stories are basically the same
TTG's is more cutesy, the kind of thing you might see in a fairytale book. PC's seems more realistic, albeit a little anthropomorphised perhaps. Despite being longer and arguably more difficult to read, I voted for PC on account of features like flashacks and emotive connection, but this was a toughie.

Challenge 5: Where is the dragon?
Ohmygod a quick task yessssss
TTG's image is more technically and proportionally advanced. FROGS' seems flat and monocolour. TTG is the winner here.

Challenge 6: Unimaginative Deck Task
Owing to the difference in numbers of new cards between the two elements I opted to ignore the decks and look at the descriptions instead. FROGS put more effort into theirs so they win.

Challenge 7: Do you like my song?
Task asked for a song about Royalty. FROGS presented a song about King Mathman, S7 presented a song about auction and the tasks. However, S7 seems to have put more effort in - there's a sentimental touch, and 32 unique lines as opposed to FROGS' 12. S7 were just about the winner for me.

Challenge 8: Unimaginative Card Task
FROGS present a card as dull as the challenge they proposed. S7 presents another unique and imaginative card with an interesting concept. S7 wins.

Challenge 9: That's What We Said
It may well be that TTG were planning this challenge all along - as I'd expect from a good challenger who plans ahead -
 but their image fits better with the added text. PC's speech bubbles seem a little bit too twee for me. It does go with the banner on the image to be fair, but despite this TTG still win for me.

[andretimpa]

Bard: From a technical standpoint Piro and TG took this. Frogs felt a bit lazy, just reusing the assets from their game.

Wizard: S7 and TG provided the most interesting takes. Piro felt a bit lacking (rawrsaur tho). No comment on Frogs.

CD: TG felt a tad too flexible, but together with S7 was the winner imo. Frogs was just plain OP and Piro was just confusing (even after DC explained it)

Sader
Piro: I don't think Piro's deck has a lot of chances against the dragon deck. Even if I assume they were using upped Otys, wings flap and fire breath, as well as shadow carrier + portal keeper quickly overpowers the Otys' control. Not to mention that Gold Stash allows it a 1-2 turns edge so even bottomdecking these cards you are likely to get outrushed.

Frogs: The deck works I'll give you that. Even though it's mostly because Ravener is broken in this scenario (though I'm pretty sure you wouldn't even need it, just pop wings and go for deckout)

S7: Interesting combo (sader + quint + p. dagger + dims = renewable mass CC), and you guys didn't shied away from using creatures even with half the dragon deck being CC

TG: Avoiding creatures was an obvious choice. Flooding was not. Kudos.

Royalty: That was awesome mathman. TG was decent as well.

Writer: TG was a notch above the rest

BONUS: Tie between TG and Piro

CHALLENGES

Computer Wizard: Close one, but I'll go with Frogs.

Representative Colors: Another close one, but Piro looked nicer to me

Where is the dragon? There he is!: The posing in TG won me over

That's What We Said: TG was funnier

Elemental Affinity: S7 was the only one with an actual original design

Cygnia Strikes Back!: Good strategies. Doing some tests S7's deck seemed to function a little smoother.

Scribe Story: Piro's story felt quite clunky. I'm going with TG here.

Do you like my song?: I enjoyed S7's a bit better.

Dragons Are People Too: Extremelly close.

[CleanOnion]

Added a 1-day extension as a result of Project Diversity - the temporally challenged are now able to vote as well. Hooray for acceptance!

[worldwideweb3]

Royalty

SSSSSSSSS: Best one here.
TTG: nice and engaging.
Pyro: too vague, how are you gonna distract him? Where's your trap? What's dragon demise? and more.
Frogs: a nice twist to it. I liked it, though seemed a little lackluster at times.

Bard/Wizard

Frogs:  a bit too simple. I doubt it would be that easy to get to dragon. The bard task also affected the quality of wizard task, as a result.
Pyro: More pixels? :/ Wizard task was pretty confusing, but the writing helped.
TTG: I liked the bard task, though where are dragons minions? Could've added lots more to it, but with other teams missing the stuff, it doesnt hurt too much. I liked wizard task.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS: umm, a bit too confusing. Some sort of a key would have helped more than that long piece of text.

Sader/enchanter

Pyro: Uhh, not sure i understand it but doesn't the unupped version look better than the upped? Need a better explanation of the weapon to judge the deck.
Frogs: interesting weapon but i'm confused as to which quanta pools it looks at; opponent or just yours or both? I guess the deck does beat dragons deck so that's fine.
SSSSSSSSSS: weapon seemed reasonably balanced. Deck can beat it. Though, a bit boring but that's fine, winning is what matters.
TTG: Good weapon, deck wins.

Scribe

Pyro: I liked the song.
TTG: Good stories but a tad too long.
Frogs: few grammar mistakes but nice and short stories. Maybe a bit more would have helped, but still, a good submision.
SSSSSSSS: Too much emphasis on TTG's fall, and not the rest.

Bonus
Frogs: Good story
SSSSSSSSSS: Would have liked to see more dragon/king interaction, as that was mainly what the task was about, imo.
Pyro: I liked how it linked it to other pyro tasks. Maybe a bit too long though.
TTG: I dont think that this time song was able to give as much info to really emphasise tha bravery of the king.

Challenge #1

Frogs: Good game, though last stage got a bit annoying/boring.
TTG: Seems a bit luck based

Challenge #2
I felt that pyro only focused on zya. They should have included a bit more on other members.

Challenge #3

Pyro: Looks good
SSSSSSSSSS: Not sure that shade of blue is very welcoming XD Nice art.

#4
TTG: I hope Ipse won in the end against the aurdinas XD
Pyro: Good story but a bit too long/got a bit boring for a bit.

umm, redacted dublicate challenge 5 goes here.

Challenge #6

Both had its benefits but one was better.

Challenge #7

Frogs didnt use any new life cards, so i wont be giving an advantage to S7 in the regard. Voted as to which deck i found better.

#8

Both weren't great but one was clearly better than the other. Go figure which one.

#9

I really liked the mechanic of S7, not sure if it will be too strong. Have a guess who won here too.

#10 (?? arent there 9 challenges??)

Both were funny and pretty equal.

[theelkspeaks]

Royalty – There’s really no contest here: S7 failed to submit, and PC’s submission is lacking in detail compared to FROGS and TG, and it’s not remotely close. 

Bard/Wizard – I have another set of almost-default preferred submissions, as FROGS submission was basically just a solved maze, and PC ‘s map was just a drawing of the floating island rather than actually depicting any sort of hazards the dragon would create.  Amazing work by both TG and S7 on this task.

Crusader/Enchanter – I can’t understand how PC’s card even works, and I question how well this was worded.  FROGS have an interesting card and a cool deck that I appreciate, but ultimately I’m not sure how healthy such a card would be for normal gameplay.  S7 has a very interestingly designed card, but that’s a card that’s almost certainly overpowered with Dim, and the deck submitted is evidence of the overpowering result with Dim.  TG has a card with repeatable CC that might be overwhelming with other freeze effects.
Scribe – WOW TG killed this challenge.  PC’s excellent poem would be a clear winner or at least a very competitive second in almost any other challenge, but with the sheer quality of TG’s writing here, I can’t even pretend it’s close.
Bonus – I find all four submissions a little lacking in this challenge, but I think that S7 managed to make the best of a pretty rough challenge.  None of the teams here really sold me on their entry.
Challenges:
Wizard – I like both submissions, and have a fairly tough time choosing between FROGS and TG.
Scribe – TG vs. PC – TG used a clever format that is to their credit, while PC had a decently written story, I think it ultimately isn’t quite as well-written.
Royalty – PC vs. S7  - A very close challenge due to good submissions on both sides that ultimately goes to PC.
Scribe – TG vs. PC – The single closest challenge of the entire brawl, and to the credit of both teams.  It’s so had to choose between two great submissions.
Bard – FROGS vs. TG – One dragon has wings that look stilted and unnatural, the other has clearer wings, and such a small detail can make the difference when the submissions are so similar.
Crusader – FROGS vs. S7 – Both sides made use of cards that don’t exist in EtG regularly in making their Cygnia decks, and although FROGS’s was more creative, their degree of difficulty was also much lower given the wide variety of life cards added to the game.  Since I feel compelled to take the degree of difficulty into account when deciding what each team achieved in this task, it’s a very close call.
Scribe – FROGS vs. S7 – This is a very close call as well, as both sets of lyrics definitely do sound like a song, and choosing which one sounds better is difficult. My preference will come down to which set of words have a smoother flowing meter to them, because both sets are excellent.
Enchanter – FROGS vs. S7 – There are clear flaws in both submissions.  The Pixie is virtually unkillable, as even shield effects won’t affect it due to momentum, and with a starting ATK of 4, I’m not sure that the lack of counterplay is healthy for the game.  On the other hand, shadow novice is a cool idea, though probably slightly overcosted, but the templating is a little bit of a mess.
Bard – TG vs. PC – Both of these submissions are very good, but one seems slightly more creative, while the other seems to use a joke similar to many of that team’s other submissions.

[1011686]

What's dragon demise?

Check round 1.

[Calambar]

TTG: I liked the bard task, though where are dragons minions? Could've added lots more to it

Give me a month, not just a week and I can even make a claymation With a lot more stuff

[Kuroaitou]

Royalty: FROGS was probably the most hilarious, but also the easiest to understand. It gave out a plan in the most efficient and colorful way possible, so they're the winners to me. TTG comes 2nd due to their plan being far more realistic, but the story threw me off and was completely unnecessary. Pyrocloaks' plan was adequate. S7 fails and gets a flat out 0.

Bard: TTG/Cloaks' images of the "dragon's lair" are relatively clean and polished. I would say the same thing about FROGS but...

Wizard: ...FROGS strategy of 'approaching' the dragon is inconsistent with Royalty's task [there was no mention of a silly maze!], therefore, TTG/Cloaks are my preference in conjunction (with S7 getting some compensation).

Enchanter: S7 has the best weapon overall that's both simple to use and incredibly viable with its own element, avoiding redundancy with other cards while also avoiding mechanical problems (switching from weapons to perms, OP weapons, etc.). I will omit the spelling error as well. However...

Crusader: TTG/FROGS decks are easier to read and make sense of when it comes to strategizing with their cards. Using math and actual battle simulations do not impress me. So the first two are my preference.

Scribe: TTG has good writing skills, although I still like all of them too. I just have a preference for one over the others. ^^;;

BONUS: Basically a tie between multiple teams essentially.

Challenges 1-9:
1. Both games are wonderful, but I feel that TTG's resonates with me a little more given my previous forum game creations...
2. TTG's is more concise and far more useful overall.
3. Pyrocloaks hand-made non-digital art is always a +1 here.
4. Appreciated both, but Pyrocloaks wins out.
5. Pixel art of FROGS is both symmetrical and easier to use for a game perhaps, so +1 to them.
6. S7 has a better deck overall.
7. FROGS has a better beat.
8. S7's card creation is still the best (just like their original Enchanter task as mentioned in the above)
9. <3 TTG's.

[Linkcat]

Royalty

Tentacles is far and away more well thought out and interesting than the others. I liked the S7 submission more than the Frogs submission.

Bard/Wizard

Frogs: Lair is bland, obstacles are nonexistent.
Pyrocloaks: Interesting take on Aurdinas. Other than the color of the dragon, technically doesn't contradict the lore. Wizard portion was decent.
Tentacles: Bad portion is not quite as strong as Pyrocloaks, but the descriptions of getting past the obstacles more than make up for it.
S7: Bard portion is meh. This would only make sense if the traps were hidden and there was actually a safe path.

Crusader/Enchanter

Pyrocloaks: The mention of bolts is unnecessary and confusing. There is no reason for a crossbow to be Time or Gravity. Why is the deck unupped... This stands no chance against the dragon.
Frogs: The card is really weird due to being tailored specifically for these two decks, which was completely unnecessary given how well the deck counters the dragon.
S7: Card has an interesting mechanic. Deck does it's job, but there's nothing about this specific weapon that makes it important for the deck.
Tentacles: Card is good and a key component of the deck.

Scribe

None of these really stood out above the others, resulting in mostly even voints. The poem did not flow well at all, but it still gets the edge along with Tentacles.

Bonus Task

This is one that I would have loved to do myself. Frogs was the only one to include any considerable exaggeration. Everybody else fails this task. Pyrocloaks get the short end for letting soldiers die.

Challenge 1

I stopped playing Frogs at the third sword level. I played Tentacles for a couple hours until I squeezed every last point I could from it.

I challenge anyone to match this score:



Tentacles - 1
F.R.O.G.S. - 0

Challenge 2

Tentacles is far more interesting.

Tentacles - 1
Pyrocloaks - 0

Challenge 3

Art quality is similar. S7 seems more representative of the country as a whole.

S7 - 1
Pyrocloaks - 0

Challenge 4

Same story, Tentacles just wrote it better in every way.

Tentacles - 1
Pyrocloaks - 0

Challenge 5

Tentacles clearly wins here.

Tentacles - 1
F.R.O.G.S. - 0

Challenge 6

S7 somehow makes better use of the new cards even with the noted disadvantage.

S7 - 1
F.R.O.G.S. - 0

Challenge 7

I could not figure out for the life of me how either of these songs are supposed to be sung. Going off just the words, I'll give a very slight edge to S7.

S7 - 1
F.R.O.G.S. - 0

Challenge 8

Frogs: You realize this is Life, right?
S7: Interesting. Makes Cloak more relevant. I like it. Upped should only have 4 attack.

S7 - 1
F.R.O.G.S. - 0

Challenge 9

Tentacles was unfunny. Pyrocloaks was unfunny and lame. Humor is subjective.

Tentacles - 1
Pyrocloaks - 0

Best submission overall: The four submissions in contention for this were all from Tentacles. I decided on their Bard/Wizard task. Seeing the little Krzy figure getting caught in all the traps just puts a smile on your face. The Wizard's notes and charts only add to the humor.

Best submission of Brawl 6: I'm going to have to go with The Tentacles Grip's Royalty task from Round 2. Even without factoring in JCJ's voice, the lyrics do a fantastic job of detailing the uniqueness of the underwater landscape, and the song has a steady rhythm and is fun to sing.

[CleanOnion]

Link, I removed your voints from your post as per the rule you suggested initially.

[Linkcat]

I didn't vote in the form yet...

[JonathanCrazyJ]

I didn't vote in the form yet...

Hahaha