Elodea Exploration Party: Saturday May 11th

[Christopher]

Personally I am with luna. Sometimes If I see the textures of an Fan age (like this one) I get the feeling they would look better without textures...
At least that's my opinion.

Christopher

[janaba]

Yeah, I'm on my way already haha ... I had a few hundred pictures to look through, that took some time lol ...

Ok, for all who feel hesitant or even eager to try this out, and there are not yet any real impressions available, just the hype and fuss we've been making by now lol ... I can assure you all there's absolutely more to everything than just the outer and superficial look and feel and desire for perfection ... I at least am very impressed by all the great ideas and their implementation into all of this, and think of it, she's alone, almost ... Such a vast universe, a game in itself, is in general created by companies, and then with more precision and quality, of course ...

Ok, I've uploaded some pictures for every part of Elodea, and I'd like to add that this is absolutely only the tip of the iceberg or one might say a drop of the vast ocean which is available to explore, so the choice was really not very easy ... The Unterwelt has a map (last picture), also in-game, where you can see what there is to expect and see behind all those windows and doors ... I've chosen only a few 'outside' pictures to present a bit of the vastness of all of this, ok, there's one of the fish crates, I loved those lol, and one of the galaxy, but only a very few from the inside views ... Schatzkammern has no map, but there you'll get a special hint in the beginning, which will guide you through this world ...

So, please, all interested, enjoy my little picture gallery ... There are no spoilers depicted btw. and I hope you like my gallery too, Dulcamara, as a little tribute one might say ...

Elodea main

Show Spoiler










Elodea Unterwelt

Show Spoiler

















Elodea Tunnelgang

Show Spoiler













Elodea Schatzkammern

Show Spoiler















[Christian Walther]

It has been said already – thanks Acorn for digging up my quote – but it bears repeating: Luna, Christopher and others – if I had only seen pictures of Elodea (even janaba’s), I would have thought exactly the same. But when I was in the age, its visual deficiencies truly faded into the background because there was just so much to explore and the architecture of the age is just so well done. That may not be the case for you, but it’s what happened to me. And I’m as much a sucker for photorealism as they come. I wouldn’t have expected it myself.

It was a very good idea by Dulcamara to organize a public exploration party!

[Annabelle]

I do understand Luna and you have your own opinion and other as well.

Sure an age like Tre'bidvil looks awesome, there are flaws too. Even the Cyan's "theoretical" perfect ages have flaws. Some, like Kadish & Relto, have such big flaws that I can crash everyone inside them in 10 secs...I just need to go right on the spot and BOOM...everyone on desktop age. No ages, Cyan's or fans', will ever be perfect.

Cyan paid employees & they worked very hard & well to make URU ages a reality.

For a small tiny fan age, it might be possible for 1 guy to come with a pretty age...Fehnir's House for example. Though, I don't like the lighting of my avatar in there, she is too dark which is completely incoherent.

Dulcamara built something on her own as a hobby: a world as vast as Yeesha's journey ages (I will be mean toward Cyan here ... and more interesting than Yeesha's Journey because we can go everywhere...Teledahn "normal zone" is less than 5% of total surface of Teledahn, i'm not even taking account the water surface, only the land) She had few helps from Frutti and maybe others but that's all.

Maybe it's just me...I don't look at the same flaws. I don't care much, let's say, about water surface, I find it funny, all wavvy...and what do you think an ocean looks like? All peaceful & calm...Come on!!! Dulcamara's water is the best representation of actual water. Colour then? Ahh yeah... water is always blue... you should go out to seaside someday, you shall be surprised

The flaws for me is what I described in Teledahn: I don't want to look from one side of the lagoon, a waterfall far far away on the opposite side. I want to go right there. What I really like about fan ages is the possibility to explore & have fun. All that previously mentioned, even if some ages, like Janga, could have been painted by a Naive artist like Rousseau

[Calena]

+1 to what Christian said. Yes, the age would benefit from better visuals. But first and foremost, this is a game and oh boy, did she get that right! The design is incredibly immersive and keeps drawing us in and back in. And while we're all thinking of what she could have done to improve the graphics, let us not forget she doesn't speak English and almost all the the instructions are written in English. Dulcamara has shown she is an enormously talented age writer and she will only getter better with practice and study. The last thing we need to do is discourage her in any way. Personally, I'm in awe of what she's accomplished and I know the kind of work and dedication building takes. The woman needs to take a bow while we all cheer. She's earned it.

[dtierce]

I just finished(?) Elodea Schatzkamen last night and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will agree with the comments about the visual quality, but this is a fan-created age. I got much more out of my explorations in Elodea than I've gotten out of several other "high-quality" ages. Almost all of the mechanical basics were solidly implemented. My only real complaint are the objects which should have been solid that I could walk through as if they weren't there (some potted plants in Unterwelt to be specific and some ivy covered walls). In Unterwelt, I was also able to get behind some walls into some out-of-bounds areas by casually jumping through alcoves. Otherwise, I was quite immersed in the age.

One of the things that I enjoyed throughout was the freedom to go off the beaten path and climb and jump from one part to another. I went wild in Schatzkamen my first two trips, got lost, and eventually fell in the lava... but I saw and experienced a lot. My last two trips, I stuck to the path and followed it all the way to the final treasure room. I expect I will explore there some more because I haven't climbed everything yet. I might find some shortcuts through that age.

I am still a little confused about the buttons in the key rooms for Tunnelgang and Unterwelt. I pushed the buttons in the order I thought the clues told me, but nothing happened in either room. Also, it seems that none of the previous key rooms and their clues are needed to enter the final treasure room of Schatzkamen.

Regardless of my confusion, I think this collection of ages is terrific. I will still be wandering around in them for a while yet.

David Tierce

[janaba]

Thanks all, who explored this world and commented here and tried to convey in an appreciative way what cannot be conveyed by pictures only as it seems, it can only be sensed and felt and experienced, when you are there and really immerse yourself in it, or, this doesn't have to be seen too dramatic, one just have to follow the intended routes by searching for the 7 cloths in each of Elodea's worlds, means, find the 28 cloths, then one will understand and know what we're talking about here ...

As for myself, I tell you sth, I also enjoyed the visuals and all the manifold small and great details implemented, even if they were not all perfect, OMG, what is perfect, and especially, as dtierce mentioned, I've thoroughly enjoyed all the almost perfectly implemented techniques, or mechanical basics, as he's called them, this was the most impressive ... You not only walk through countless alleys and hidden passageways, up and down through secret chambers and caves and beautiful halls etc. easily, no, you have to find all those passageways, have to find and push buttons to move huge mountain plates to reveal hidden stairs, which lead you to a cloth e.g., and this is no spoiler, cause I know nobody will find the correct way easily lol ... This is only one example what there is to expect ... Find the galaxy in Unterwelt and you will be amazed how this is at all possible what you experience there, technically for a non-professional ...

I have to say that I haven't found what I've found and experienced in Elodea in any of the fan ages and even not in Uru or Myst ... I don't want to talk about Uru here, cause it is a very old game, but I'd like to mention that the graphics in Uru aren't perfect everywhere as well, and in some places even crappy, sorry ... What I'd like to remind everyone of is that Uru (prime) as well as Elodea are huge, yes, you can almost compare the hugeness, and to deliver this all with perfect graphics everywhere, oh wow, that'd need a year or more even for that refinement ... I don't know this personally as I'm not an age builder, but our age builders here know that the texturing work is almost the most difficult and arduous one ... Now also think of having Uru or Elodea with really perfect graphics everywhere, I think you couldn't move there anymore caused by the massive lag lol ... So, let's just face it, yes there are some fan ages with some more quality, but not perfect as well, but there's nothing or almost nothing to do ... You can look at beautiful, not perfect walls, pictures or other natural environments and have a fresh coffee or meditate, which is also very nice and wonderful, but cannot be compared to a huge and interactive world like Elodea ... Yeah, that's my two cents again ...

Kudos and thank you again, Dulcamara, and please don't forget all, the next Elodea extensions/worlds are in the making and almost ready ... Hey, I can't wait to explore some more in there ...

dtierce, as for the key rooms ... The one in Tunnelgang at the beginning does nothing, there's that journal and behind that last green door there's your entrance to Elodea Schatzkammern and there's nothing else to click or do, but you have to get there lol ... As for the key for Unterwelt, I can tell you or anybody interested that the clue to find it starts in the Elodea main world's key room

Show Spoiler

note down the four red numerals

and apply that hint in the Unterwelt's key room like this

Show Spoiler

start with that black triangle as 1 and count (click) counterclockwise considering the red numerals and be surprised

there you have your Unterwelt key for the Schatzkammern entrance ...

[janaba]

I'd like to add that I'm aware that there are a few fan ages that are also quite huge, where great new ideas have been implemented, and I'd like to express that I in no way want to belittle other fan ages, you all know that I appreciate the work of the age builders ... it is just better not to compare one with the other maybe ... Yeah, just sayin lol ...

As for the Unterwelt key, it is possible to get the idea without it, and you dtierce got it like that as it seems ... that key actually irritated me in the first place lol, I just put the solution in spoilers for all inquiring minds wanting the correct solution like me lol, and cause you seemed to be interested in it, dtierce ...

[Ainia]

My only real complaint are the objects which should have been solid that I could walk through as if they weren't there (some potted plants in Unterwelt to be specific and some ivy covered walls). In Unterwelt, I was also able to get behind some walls into some out-of-bounds areas by casually jumping through alcoves.

Ah, you found some of the hidey-holes and secret passageways of the Unterwelt! There are a few similar hidey-holes in surface Elodea too, though not nearly as many. They make for an interesting game of hide-and-seek in an already huge and complex Age filled with nooks and crannies.

Stumbling upon such views early on does indeed break one's sense of immersion. But they also offer some amazing sights from "behind the walls", well worth the tour for those interested in such things. And there are a number of tricks to be discovered in the Unterwelt, such as the views from the ground floor arches and the fiddly shortcut down to the spa (which I've traveled successfully only once so far! ). There are places one can go snorkeling in the Unterwelt river too...

I need to move past the Unterwelt and search for similar hidden gems in Tunnelgang and Schatzkammern...

[Annabelle]

KEYSSSSSSS

Let me help you sort it out for you, Dtierce & also for Janaba who seems to have missed something about Tunnelgang's key. I'll make the parallel with Ehren's last post which was very clever of him to post .

1) Let's begin with Ehren's stuff:

I had already a clear conception of how Elodea worlds were all interconnected. For me, Elodea stands at the top & covers the 3 other ages. Unterwelt is under the waterfall area. Schaztkammern is a bit decaled from Unterwelt & is under the tallest hills of Elodea (cross hill & shack hill) & Tunnelgang is a very narrow place in-between Unterwelt & Schaztkammern.

From Elodea, we cannot see the other parts. From Unterwelt, we can see on 3 different floors Schaztkammern immense cavern. The obvious would be the sun portal. There are also 2 alcoves on upper floors carved in the rocks giving nice vistas.

From Unterwelt, when you look through the hospital's blue windows, you can peek at the maze leading to Tunnelgang. You can figure out where it's located that way.

(HINT--->) From Tunnelgang, you can fully see the treasure rooms themselves as one room of Tunnelgang has a jointed wall with the huge treasure hall.

From Tunnelgang & from Schaztkammern, you can see the other ages since the lava flow is the same between ages & the room with the cloth (of Schaztkammern) is also paged in Tunnelgang (although as Ehren mentionned it to me...the cloth is on the reverse side, left hand palm ).

I was amazed to see that, 1st, Ehren has the possibility to do tricks like paging all the ages in a single big world (I know he has mentionned he tweeked himself his URU:CC install & he is not using the usual UAM/Drizzle tool/Offline-KI setting like we all do) &, 2nd, that it fits in reality


2) Back to my ... (HINT--->):

How come I'm saying that you can fully see the huge hall in treasures room from Tunnelgang? Is there something Janaba missed about the "Key room in Tunnelgang with nothing working...". The journal there does explain to you some backstory, nothing about the key though.

You have 4 directions written in german. Anyone can understand:

N for Nord
S for Süd
O for Ost
W for West

Nord, Sud, Est, Ouest ... or North, South, East, West as you can see the similarity of pronounciation/spelling between french, german, & english is astonishing.

Wandering in Tunnelgang, you'll see 4 rocks on the ground with one letter each, that could be of great help to anyone interesting in mapping those worlds, I'm thinking of Ainia right now . You'll also, in a corner of Tunnelgang, see a little note on the ground with this written on it: WSON.

In the last room of Tunnelgang, the one looking like a "nexus", you'll see some letters on the ground... You should maybe try something in that room, there might be more to it than just linking to another Elodea's part Look closely at the walls, I'm sure you'll see something on one of them...like if someone had carved a rectangle in it. Maybe there's something there ?!!?! I dunno, I've suddenly lost my memory


----------------

On another topic: Janaba is right. Here we talk abundantly about Dulcamara's merits, let's not forget other age writers who did deliver & surely are about to do just the same nice ages with a lot of interactions, places to visit, flaws , discoveries, & so on. You would be surprised to know that each time I'm going to R'Osha... Korv... AHHH the Calena's 2nd age LOL, i'm always paying a small visit to my dear raccoon friend and laugh out loud when he emits his sound (I go right next to him...after having jump over walls & have a chat with the sweet, lovely, & quite cute squirrel )