Later seasons/Eye shiled

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Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by Purgatory »

A good as the later seasons were they dont match up to the originals, mind u thye storys lines seemd to have gotten somewere as time went on.. but the 2 things i didnt like about the late season(s) was the new helm.. it just didnt keep at Knigtmare feel, and that nasty wand.. wich i didink like due to how long it took for them to use it..LOL


also, didnt they have to find the eye shild in the 1st seasons? im sure thye had to pick it up.. but then saying that.. how woudl they have seen the dungon.. im sure something special went on with the eye shiled during that time... what was it?
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by GrimaldineGrimwold »

The Eye Shield appeared first in Series 4 when the production team decided to use  outside environments, which required a few passive paths. In that Series they did have to obtain it within the dungeon. In Level 1 they'd be set a challenge by someone like Hordriss or Malice and would be given the Eye Shield to help them to achieve it.  
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by Purgatory »

oh as later as season 4? wow,
and yeah i can remember now them discribing to the team what it was and did,

when i think of it, i might have been to young to realyl remember the 1st few eps, i reconize bits from them one this site but it was so long ago i must have been about 6 i think when i started watching it, i want untill later i really got into it but made sure i never missed an ep, oh fridays will never be the same again, i really cant wate till this christmas thing :)
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by JamesA »

I think the Eye shield was a great idea for dungeoneers in later series, and the visuals used alongside it in series 7 and 8 were quite impressive as well  ;D
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by Brendy »

I agree, in the first few series it was used. The eye shiels was used almost after every room. Did anyone else feel a snail could walk faster ( unless a spell was used). In the later series it was used much more sparingly i think and to better effect
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by GrimaldineGrimwold »

Could a snail walk faster? YES, absolutely. I suppose it did give us a chance to enjoy the outside environments, and yes, when they were used sparingly the passive paths were quite effective. But sometimes it was just soooo slow. I remember one team having enough time to comment on the graffiti in one of the castle sequences. The footstep sound effects often just highlight even more the slow pace.  I challenge anyone to walk that slowly with an intention of getting anywhere.

I suppose the temptation with new innovations/ additions like the Eye Shield is to initially overuse them. Clearly it was most important for the outside sequences, and with the return to a darker dungeon in Series 8 these were becoming less important. I'd have liked to have seen it not given to dungeoneers by Treguard in Series 9. I'd have liked most teams to go through an indoor dungeon where it would be largely unnecessary. But just a few teams per series would have to go outside for their Level 1 for some reason (to retrieve something or whatever). They'd be given the Eye Shield by someone or have to bargain to get it. To go outside would make a nice change occasionally, and they could thereby make use of the E.S. (without overusing it) and also utilise things like Oakley and, of course, Ariadne's outside lair. Oh, and perhaps the quicksand from Series 3.  
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by GrimaldineGrimwold »

Incidentally, the passive paths that I found became the absolute most tedious were Smirkenorff's flights. Pretty? Yes. Visually impressive? Yes, at first. But again, I thought it was overused. I personally tired with the "getting a dragon mint/firestone" formula too.  

As with so many things, I think Season 8 was a step back from the precipice here, making everything a lot more watchable. He got a flight in to make use of the graphics, but it wasn't used all the time like that.  

On the other things originally mentioned in this thread:

The Helmets of Justice- naturally, the new one doesn't compare. As I think Phil Colvin mentioned in one of his articles, the replacement was probably necessary to introduce a visor to allow them to use the SIGHT spells and such. I just hated those, and especially Majida's "Eee's too deefeecult, ee cannot eeven seee where ee is goeeng" to encourage them to use the magic. Nothing wrong with the acting, just the whole concept. I'll shut up since I remember ranting on this in the old forum.

The Wand Called "Reach"- I've never heard anyone defend this. It was dull to watch them using it, and further took away from the "you're going into the dungeon alone and all you have to help you survive is your wits" format. I wouldn't have minded it being used once or twice, perhaps picking it up as a clue object. But again, it was a new innovation that was in my humble opinion overused.
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by Purgatory »

oh yeah the dragon did become boring, and slow.
i guess there was only so much u can do in a small amont of time, i would love to just watch a team all the way with out the adds and haveing to wate for the next ep, keeps it exciting but leaves u wanting more,

what was the eye shiled made out of?
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shield

Post by Stephy24_7 »

Grrr.

I LIKED the later seasons. I didn't like the Reach wand, because it was too physical, and dungeoneers weren't meant to be physical. Soon you'd have a reach sword to attack people and then where would you be? Knightmare was meant to be mental.

But I LIKED Smirkenorff's flight's. Where's your sense of childish fantasy? What child wouldn't give up everything they owned to fly on a dragon? and Knightmare could make that happen for you.

I LIKED eyeshields. The more realistic the scenery, the better. It gave you a sense of being submerged in the world, so realistically you would never come out again. The point was to put yourself in the mind of a dungeoneer. How many of us watched it thinking "The fool, he/she should be doing THIS"? If you have an eyeshield the identification of yourself with the dungeoneer became more personal.

I liked dwarf tunnels too, but the "real", later ones were better. The skeletons in the corners really were scary.
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by Pooka »

Yeah, I agree with Stephy. The whole point of Knightmare's addictiveness was realism. If you didn't feel like a part of the whole thing, you'd just sit back and say, "ha ha, what a prat, this guy's a wally, etc" (except you probably wouldn't say out loud et ceteri - ahem) and Knightmare would be a laughingstock!

However, things like the Eye Shield, while distracting and a bit annoying at first, soon became part of the action - I especially liked the Eye Shield sequences in series 8, which were very well-animated, even by today's standards. They were actually very scary and very absorbing.

I liked both kinds of Dwarf tunnels - I enjoyed series 3's tunnels with goblins or Grimwold following you. However, series 7's tunnels were also quite good. The sound effects, especially the goblin horn and the 'marching troops' noise, really added atmosphere - I can personally remember being terrified that a dungeoneer would turn a corner and meet a mob of goblins, which would leap on, and devour, the hapless dungeoneer!

And yeah, one more thing - and this is Stephy's point again - how many people can say, "I've flown across the sea on the back of a dragon"? What I wouldn't give to be able to say that! Come on everyone - think of the dungeoneers here, people!

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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by JamesA »

And yeah, one more thing - and this is Stephy's point again - how many people can say, "I've flown across the sea on the back of a dragon"? What I wouldn't give to be able to say that! Come on everyone - think of the dungeoneers here, people!
Indeed, I can remember Jenna from Series 5 Team 5 stating in her guestbook entry that her one regret was that she didn't get to ride Smirkenoff.... poor girl
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by GrimaldineGrimwold »

Ooohh, I didn't mean to offend anyone. Apologies if I made you growl Stephy.

I don't think it was the later dwarf tunnels per se that I disliked. Yes, they had atmosphere. And I liked the skeletons and even the occasion a team spent ages investigating something completely worthless on the floor. But I always associate the memory of them with Brother Strange and his wretched proverbs at the end.

I see the point about Smirky. And I wouldn't wish he'd never been invented. When he first appeared it was great to watch. And whoever did the voice later on was just fabulous. ;)  ;)  ;) I just agreed with the production team that by Season 8 it was nigh time for him to not fly on just about every quest.

I agree about the realism aspect. I just think that predictability subtracts from the realism and apprehension. To keep it real (Gods, that sounds awful) and preserve the fear (no pun intended) some things had to change. And why I liked Series 8 was because they WERE changing for the better. We had a good cast of characters, some of whom had been redeemed from their state in Series 7. The Eye Shield sequences were much improved. Smirky was used but not overused. The best puzzles were kept. Okay, Reach was a mistake, but it can't all be good.

I certainly wouldn't say "The earlier Series were uniformly better" or "The later Series were uniformly worse". I still think that, apart from a few great new floor puzzles and one excellent new character, Series 7 was slightly icky. But "later series" in general have a lot going for them. :)
   
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shield

Post by Pooka »

I liked the concept of Reach, but the bad thing about it was that the cross-hair was obviously a mouse pointer or something. If we were to use Reach in a later series, then all well and good - but more technical wiizardry to create good effects would be appreciated.

I liked series 7, by the way - it was my favourite series.
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by Purgatory »

im not agenst the dragon but after seeing it so many times got less intreting,

but now we are all a lot older, we will enjoy it as much as we did.. it might have as much magic as it did  but it will get much more respect and appreciated at lot more
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Re: Later seasons/Eye shiled

Post by Kieran »

I think the actual concept of the reach wand is a good idea.  Unfortunately you could tell it was being controlled by someone with a mouse pointer, and had NOTHING to do with dungeoneer direction.

I enjoyed the marked changes after season 3.  It lead to something new, as the first 3 seasons had been based around the same idea etc.

The eye was good, and although it looked good in S8, it also looked too fake to me (even at the time), so I much prefer the outdoor scenes. :)
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