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[Feedback] Fantasy Theme World Revamp
What do you think of the new changes the theme dungeon recently underwent? Do you like the new story introduced to the theme park?
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The original story was exploring a newly opened theme park, this new one is...help some dude you don't know get some because...reasons? It doesn't even really have anything to do with the theme park either, outside of trying to scare some girl senseless on the rides.
The old questline had more characters involved, doing different things as you explored the park. The new one mostly just has this loser squirrel dude trying and failing to get a nut, except for some love-hating dude popping up out of nowhere at the end for some reason? I assume this guy was from some Valentine's Day event in the past or something? At least in the old version, people probably knew who Spiegelmann was when he popped up since he shows up all the time anywhere there's a theme park or attraction in the game.
The ghost house is the only attraction to get any real attention in the new version, and it's...just the same shoot the ghost minigame that pops up in (I think) Crimsonheart Castle. At least in the old version you'd actually go into the ghost house to hunt monsters.
The layout of the dungeon has been simplified even further. It was always pretty much a straight line, but some maps would loop around to earlier ones. Now it really is just one straight line of maps.
And the music is really unfitting for an amusement park setting. I actually don't remember if it's the same as the old version, but if it is, this would have been a really good time to update it. You'd think there'd be some really upbeat, cheery tune for a theme park, something akin to Ludibrium next door, but what we have just feels...off.
Other recent area revamps have been pretty good. Kerning Square was updated to Kerning Tower with a sweet little story to it that called back to the old version of the dungeon and showed what those old characters are up to now, Omega Sector came back in a big way with a new story, the return of the
mesorangersM-Forcers, and a brand new boss. Fantasy Theme World on the other hand feels like...why did they even bother? No new monsters, weaker story, no real fanfare to celebrate its "return" after being closed for what felt like a few weeks (does it even have a splash screen on the game's main menu like the other revamps did?) It was never an especially interesting dungeon in the first place, now it just feels even more bland and watered down. Like, what even was the point?That kind of says it all, doesn't it? People knew Kerning Square and Omega Sector were gone for a long while, and eagerly anticipated their hopeful return. People still occasionally wonder when Florina Beach, Neo Tokyo/Tera Forest, and Crimsonwood Keep Party Quest will ever come back.
I get the feeling nobody even knew Fantasy Theme World was even closed. I only knew it because I was checking through my Monster Collection to see what I was still missing and found I couldn't go in to kill the bosses. It really doesn't help that it overlaps with the very similar theme park area in the Malaysia maps where people do their meso farming lately. I guarantee if Bye Bye Station had closed down for any amount of time, they'd have cared.
Actually, they did add a new BGM in KMS, but it happened the patch afterward:
Personally I disagree about Kerning Tower, and here's why I think the storyline was complete garbage (and worse than FTW): It lacked any sense of tension, and plot points get resolved way too fast (for example, looking for Dia Mandy is built up to be this big conflict, only to get resolved in the same quest). And on the topic of that quest, Dia Mandy is just let back into the group instantly without any hesitation, despite it being hinted that her breakthrough performance was a disaster. And the appearance of the Spirit of Rock felt completely out of nowhere, without any sense of buildup.
Omega Sector was fine though.
Fantasy Theme World, while uninteresting, at least had a sense of conflict. Granted, I don't think anyone in KMS was really demanding that FTW have a new storyline, so it came out of nowhere for me too.
Hey, that is pretty good! Hopefully that patch comes here before I have to spend too much time grinding that area. Properly fitting music can really enhance content, even if you find the rest of it dull.
Fair enough on Kerning Tower. I personally thought it was all fine, not mind-blowing or anything. I guess you're right that it lacked any major conflict that wasn't quickly hand-waved away, but I found it cute overall. Moreso than Squirrel-Boy trying to Pick-Up Artist his way to success.
Maybe I'd be better served pointing to other, older revamps, like Mushroom Kingdom, which similarly got a new story for no particular reason, but feels like it had a bit more work put in, imo. Or Korean Folk Town and Mushroom Shrine which had some pretty beefy story content added to them that seemed pretty good to me. Can't remember much about the original versions of those two, but the changes seemed fairly significant at least.
Anyhow, it's all just my opinion. I personally never found FTW all that interesting, and I feel like this particular revamp did less for FTW than any of the other revamps did for theirs. I certainly can't speak for anyone else on the matter. I just hope that if Florina Beach, Tera Forest, or even Chryse ever get their black chains off the world map, their revamps are of quality of the others, rather than what FTW got.
Funny thing is, Mushroom Shrine was given to us by JapanMS, not KoreaMS, as KMS removed their world tour years ago. Mushroom Shrine's story actually hinted at a sequel regarding Neo Tokyo (NOT Neo City/Tera Forest, the original JMS version) at the end. Before the update, it didn't really have much of a story.
Korean Folk Town did have some kind of story before, where you do various quests around town helping the NPCs with their issues related to the storybooks they came from. For example, there was a Swallow NPC in town that Hongbu helped, which gives you a gourd seed to give to either Hongbu, the poor but generous of the two, or Nolbu, the greedy brother. If you give it to Hongbu, he gets treasures, while if you give it to Nolbu, he gets a repossession warrant telling him that all his belongings will be taken. This was related to the original story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heungbu_and_Nolbu
The updated version of Korean Folk Town is related more to the seven deadly sins, while keeping elements of the old storybooks.
And I do hope we get something good for the last few closed areas (maybe even Sakura Castle will be decent). I predict that the Nautilus/Florina Beach area will be used as some kind of early low-level area for a specific class (like Kinesis with the Ellinia expansion, which I felt could have been the perfect chance to bring back Lupins and Faust).