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So, the whole accents/stutter thing:

In good writing, you don't NEED to write them out. You can be like "Oh, Jacques and his french accent" and then Jacques speaks normally, aside from some "oh, wait, what is that English word again?" type things. It is left to the reader to imagine the accent, since it rarely affects the actual words, outside of second-language difficulties to sentence and grammar structure.

The stuttering could easily have been the same. It should have been MUCH more subtle. Or, if it was truly such a huge problem, have Connor give us a note when he is feeling super anxious and can't stop stuttering. As I don't stutter myself, maybe having someone who DOES stutter (as was mentioned on the other board) explain how it often happens, or ways they deal/cope/manage their stuttering. That would have been better than someone wearing out their "R" key just for typing dialogue.

Unfortunately, because this plot was Dialogue driven, it is hard to show an accent/stutter other than typing it out. But honestly, the whole plot suffered because it was simply dialogue driven. As suggested, having the user "write a journal" each day would have greatly helped. Especially in a plot where we are running all over and just talking to people, with barely any backdrop. At least in the Atebus and Jaxon plots, we SAW the place we were standing and having these conversations, which made it slightly more immersive. We had to walk the rooms to talk to other people... we even got some decent expressions on their faces.

I get that this was a mini-plot, and would not have asked for backdrop drawings since we were all over the map, but when you can't physically show us where we are, at least do it in writing, so that the immersion is still more real.

This plot more felt like a checklist of instructions... not a story. Which is such a damn shame, because I can just imagine how amazing this story would be if written out in novel form! I mean, thinking of it as an actual story, we pretty much just pulled the major characters all over Subeta together to prevent our world from being overrun by emotional spirits that can drain our energy. I mean, we were racing around, and translating, and bartering for books and stuff. That's pretty cool. The problem is, that isn't how it felt, even if that is what happened.

And since I feel like all I just did was complain, I also want to agree with others on some parts I liked - the games and the characters/challengers. While Pete Says was annoying and not well thought out, and the timer on the boat race can go to Hell, Gravedigger and the Pirate Game were seriously fun! And the art for all the games was super amazing! Actually, the art for the whole plot was really well done. Especially the challengers! And I really do like that we got to see some of the NPCs that tend to be forgotten. Having old characters being used again does give the world a bit more depth.

[EDIT] Okay, so the more I think about this plot and the story, the more bummed I become that there isn't an actual narrative for this. So I've begun to write one myself. I'm going through the plot steps and writing it in second person POV, just as a user would have lived it. The more I write, the more I like this plot. lol For those curious, you can see the progress HERE.

the site should try (and have done well) to cater to the disabled or people with certain coordination issues. However, you cant solely go based on this and reduce the experience across the board.

This is why i love the SKIP button, and would even encourage differing difficulty levels. Which comes back to the point system. You earn more points in the fields you are good at. AKA your internet issues stop you from being a RS god, well you can make that up by working the flash games. You suck at both but trained a pet well? you battle for points.

Personally, I hope that with the SKIPS being implemented, staff can ramp up plot difficulty and complexity. maybe we do a SKIP, EASY, HARD paths, idk. I'm not sure I'd want difficulty-based paths, but I would like to see future plots have maybe three or four ways to contribute -- games, battling, puzzles, restocking, perhaps? -- so that there's an option for pretty much everyone to have a shot at equal participation. I've been saying this on various threads the whole time, but I hate that we get one choice of what to do, and if for some reason you can't do it the result is that you don't get anything (and in prior plots, that you were no longer able to participate). It would presumably make plots even fewer and farther between, but I'd be willing to wait for them to be fairer and better.

re: plot entirely driven by NPC dialogue I know it's been a frequent complaint in the past when the site assumes 'our' voice. I noticed a lot less of that here (and in the Halloween plot, too) and as such, we take a very passive role in the advancement of the plot.

It illustrates that people want different things, I guess. I want more challenges, more puzzles, more tough games. But there have been plenty of complaints about the cost and the difficulty curve.

I agree with your wall of text posts on many points, but there was one in particular that caught my eye "Helping with translation, asking NPCs to help (Jade from Get Mugged providing refreshments"

I would have absolutely loved it if some of you non-battlers had helped keep my caffeine levels up. I barely stopped for bathroom breaks and water let alone waiting on a pot of coffee XD. But seriously, your post really nailed some great points.

I never thought of the skip button from that angle. I spose it really could be for the very best in that case then. I'd love to see varying degrees of difficulty (and the lack of complaining from everyone being able to choose and do what they can). And of course, I'm always for a point based system because I'm competitive. And if it allows people to do more because theirs points to be made in things they're good at, it makes a lot more sense anyhow.

:'D Thank you! I have a tendency to ramble on when I find a topic that really sits with me, haha... I did enjoy the plot, but there's lots of room for improvement in this particular case. If we do get another miniplot, I hope they'll take some things into consideration.

Also, I'm all for everyone helping the battlers out when there's a sitewide boss. Maybe an option for non-battlers to pay a small sum for a new supply of healing salves and potions for the Healer, or paying Jade a small sum to pack up food and coffee to boost morale for the troops? Donating food to Charity to help her make ration packs? If we fund the Healer/Jade/Charity enough, anyone who is actively battling gets a timed account buff that either offers a small discount for healing, or gives them a slightly higher chance at getting a small bonus % of damage in? Or a reduced % of damage done to your pets in battle? Plus, it nets the non-battlers some bonus plot points and makes us feel like we're actually helping. I have no idea how it would work out balance-wise, however. I'll leave that to the more rested, savvy folks. It's nearly 1AM here, my brain cannot brain and I am literally running on fumes.

I agree with so many things on this board. I did enjoy the mini-plot and it did start to incorporate other things (mathis quest for nonbattlers/skip feature) that are a plus. HOWEVER, as many of the wonderful suggestions, there were better ways to execute things as in the story, timing, actual events, etc. If the land isn't ready yet, maybe you should have bumped it until some things were and it would have given the chance to iron out other things with the plot better too. Instead of kind of rushing everything especially towards the end?

Side note: The art is BEAUTIFUL!

I still can't forgive the heinous act on staff's part killing an NPC off like they did in that plot. For me it's pretty much unforgivable even though I wasn't there for the plot. First and foremost I don't want to see anything like that again.

Things that I feel could be better done:

1) Give time to complete group challenges

There wasn't at all enough time given to try and finish the Pete game before the battling round came into play. The ratio of wins submitted to amount of points given to the game complete bar were terribly off kilter. It wasn't until far too late when Staff changed things to make the bar fill up faster. People couldn't get enough games in before the spirits started coming and battling began. When a change like that happens, it'd be nice if about 2-3 days' time to try and complete something after a change has been made before introducing the next plot part. Apparently prizes for the feed, donate and give money part of the plot were going to be given in accordance what bars we filled up and it didn't seem fair that we weren't given a chance to get that bar full after the changes were made.

2) Introduce battle challengers sporadically within the plot

I noticed others saying that it would be nice if challengers were given throughout the plot so that time would be given to be able to fight them. I totally agree with that. Having everything all at once felt really rushed.

3) Give links to locations where NPCs want us to go

It felt weird having to go around and search the places out. In past plots the links to locations that were needed to get to were given at the end of each conversation. There wasn't any seek and find going on. It would be very nice if this was brought back.

4) Make plots less expensive

The RB donations were...kind of a shock for me and I'm sure a lot of other players. If sP is required for a plot, I go back to my original suggestion - if there are games in a plot, let that sP that you earn from each game be put towards the plot so that everything stays within the plot instead of having to outsource your sP from other means and in such large amounts. That way the sP is being made in the plot then being returned to the plot. There could even be a little plot sP Bank that your sP would stay in after each time you sent your score for the plot game that you wouldn't have the option of removing until the proper moment in the plot (once donations are needed, you'd have the option to donate all to the plot or take all the sP that you earned and then earn sP to donate through other means)

It was nice that the costs were reduced a lot for the weapon forging, though. It was really costly before but was still up there (I was putting out at least 200k/forge even with the change). If anything, there should've been 3 different price points: low for a low amount of damage to the big boss, medium for a medium amount of damage and high for high. Underneath each option would give you an approx. of how much the price range would be for you to spend. That way people would know up front and be able to decide accordingly.

As for giving items to Charity - I honestly do stand behind my feelings: I don't think any rarity higher than 99 should have been allowed to have been able to be given to her. If it stuck with items between R 1-99, it would've given a chance to up the values on items. it would've given better value to the super cheap items in players' shops that are far, far below the cost it would be to RS them from shops, and it would've helped give the Rares and Super Rares a price boost, too, as so many are very low in resell value...lower than possible. Rarities higher than R99 are usually (not always) very costly, usually harder to come by and donating them would make them even more impossible to obtain. Don't even get me started on the fact that CWs were able to be donated...

However, there's one thing I'd love to see even more, if that's possible...

5) Transparancy from Staff

I found that way too many important posts from Staff for this plot were extremely buried. It would be amazing if there was an official sub forum for staff only to post in in the plot forum that would give all info all the time in a clear, concise manner so that everyone's on the same page and so that there isn't a whole bunch of confused users. If something's important it shouldn't be hidden. If a question is asked by a player and is answered by staff elsewhere (news comments, for example), then those Qs & As should be posted in that particular plot step's thread in the original post in that sub forum so that players can check and see what's going on. That way everyone would be on the same page and everyone would know what's going on.

There are a few things I agree with/support (in spoilers due to length. All are welcome to read):

, and touch on some excellent points and I agree with them all.

I think that this plot should've carried on some. What would be found in this new land? Let's go in and find out what all there is to do and see! Are there evil creatures? Gentle ones? What are the lands and the people and the places like? The food and the lore and the history and the stories? There could've been more challenges and excitement and fun! I do wish this went to (what I thought was a full plot) a full plot from a mini as so much more could've been done!

All in all, though, it was still a lot of fun and I do want to thank the staff for giving us some fun! I just hope it won't take MONTHS (as Rah mentioned on her Tumblr) for this new land to come into full fruition.

I totally agree that more could have went into this most recent plot. It seemed to escalate so quick and finish even quicker that I wasn't able to battle any opponents or participate the way I would have liked to. Maybe the plots should have a longer deadline and people can participate at their own pace instead of with everyone else on Subeta? It's great to have everyone come together to complete goals, but not everyone is on every day.

There are plenty of rarity 99+ items that are super cheap. Thinks like Ikumoradeekanox fruit, Random prizes, free gifts, and so many other special items. Limiting it to just 99 or lower would mean those items couldn't be used up. I doubt this plot was a huge item sink as most people probably didn't donate more than 10 items. No one in there right mind would donate even a 50k super rare item when there are so many cheaper options available. This plot would not have raised item values in the slightest.

And whats so special about only the lower 99 values getting item prices raised? Why can't the rarity 150 items get a sink? They want love too!

I do find it a bit amusing you're asking for these items to be raised in value but want the plot overall to be cheaper :P

I do not like the idea of a SP bank just for the plot. Can you imagine how confusing that would be for people? "Hey I just earned 10k sp from this game but it's not on my account!" Plus what would happen after the plot? Would the sp just be moved back into your account? In which case, why separate it in the first place.

In regards to the actual plot improvements I echo those who said it was hard to read through. Reading stutters or heavy accents (like pirates, which has been an issue for me before) is tiresome. I honestly only skimmed most of the Connor text boxes because I found them so hard to follow along with. A stutter every once in awhile would have been fine but it was far to often for my taste. I'm all for having unique characters but there has to be a better way to incorporate their quirks into the plots.

This plot overall would have benefited from a bit more exposition I believe. I followed along easily enough but there was quite a few random tangents we went off on. Tying them altogether nicer would have been nice. And really what did the grayscale disease have to really do with anything? It really didn't seem to have much impact on the plot other than that initial release, I thought it would turn out to be more pivotal honestly.

Everyone is bringing up some great points!

Wall of Text: I noticed this is being referred to as a "Mini Plot" by many. That in and of itself is a problem. This should never have been a "mini" plot. I've been on subeta for 8.5 years and there has been new areas added to the map but never 100% new land. This plot should have been one of the big plots.

This was not an expensive plot, but it was used as a quick one off sp sink. The most expensive thing asked during this plot was 500k from the recycle beast which in return you got recycle points and was OPTIONAL. You didn't have to drop 500k, you could have donated just 100k. Everything else was optional. If you've been on Subeta longer than a week and still think 100k is a lot to drop on a plot you're doing Subeta wrong! Healing against fighting Kiyo is where the real sp was dropped, say 15 mil easy for some battlers. So I liked how non-battlers had to quest to help, but I also feel like others have said that it should have been more interactive with puzzles and various NPCs but the price was right for that. You have to pay to play.

Yes, the stuttering was annoying. But those who were offended need to remember that the councilor is a non-human from a world where fruit can smile at you. Who is to say how his species stutters? Maybe his palette or tongue isn't even shaped the same and to make r's requires more skill? Make have a plain text version available upon clicking a "translate" button or something?

The pacing was a major issue coupled with a not so put together story. I would be super happy if a staff member just did a quick little write up: plain text, no pictures, this is the back story.

I dislike the idea of being told exactly where to go. The point of having forums dedicated to the plot is to come together as a user base work it out and progress, or be a hermit/avoid spoilers and move at your own pace, unless of course you get stuck lol But anyways plots should be treated as a big puzzle where you have to actually put in something to get something out of it. Not just a good job you clicked that button here’s your participation award. This is a 13+ site there should be challenges for 13+ year old brains.

I also don’t think subeta needs to hire writers. There are some amazing artists/staff who have done excellent story telling in the past. I think in this case staff was over excited to get this content released and pushed it out too soon. Can’t say I blame them… I don’t think I could keep it a secret lol

But anyways if staff treated plots like a storyboard things would go much smoother: To Staff

1. brainstorm
2. decide what features you want/need to release
3. come up with a theme, basic story (something happens, leads to something else, CLICK)
4. fill in the details…put yourself in an average users mind and ask questions.
5. now all that's left is to actually code and draw things… something which can be done without rushing because when its all 100% ready to go is when you start dropping hints to us players. We should be in the dark until its set in stone. Then you can give us time frames. But when you give time frames before hand you only put more pressure on yourself’s and the plot suffers and you suffer, and it all trickles down.

PS..We love you guys!

/wall of text..sorry :P

[edit] For those who want more on the background of the plot: From the artist of Kiyo, I believe:

"Thematically, Kiyo is supposed to be something of a spirit guide. Not quite a grim reaper, but closer to Charon and Styx (without the fee, I think!) She watches over souls, and makes sure that people keep with the traditions to honor their dead relatives. Unfortunately, the practices had been long forgotten, so the spirits were getting restless and depressed. Then your pets beat up on her, and she loses her mind. I wanted to do some of the bright and colorful demon imagery present in Japanese art, so that's why she ends up being all colorful (there's also a little reversal, where her spirits start off colorful and melancholy while she's colorless, and by the last stage, she's become red with rage while the spirits are colorless and evil.)"

it's called making things that NEED to be raised raised not raising things that are already costly. R1-99 prices need to be raised. R100+ do not as they are not RSable and are more than likely rarer and more difficult to obtain. It's not rocket science.

Most of the cheap stuff is over r99.

Sure there's some rarity 99+ that are expensive but that's why you don't donate them. There's plenty of rarity 99s that are expensive that you wouldn't donate. The rarity 99+ that are low quanity aren't going to be the ones that people donate so it's a non issue really.

I was fine with the stutter. My brain just kind of autocorrected the words. I do have trouble reading the pirates' posts though.

Anyway, it's already been mentioned multiple times but I would've liked to have had stuff to actually do. I personally had no trouble playing the games. I didn't find any of the dialogue/story difficult to understand. I thought all the things requiring sP/donating items were fair. The only thing that took me more than a few minutes was the translation and that was just because I skipped over a letter. I want plots/events to be more involved. More puzzles, more searching for things, more making me using my brain to figure something out. We have days to do each step so maybe it should take more than few minutes to complete each one. I think the extra achievements to keep people busy between steps was a nice thing though. I also liked the community goals.

What I don't want is everything spelled out for me. I don't want every link I need conveniently placed at the bottoms of the pages. I don't want my hand held. I don't want to be told to go talk to an NPC. I want to be asked if I know an NPC who can help. Or maybe not even asked. Maybe the story gives a subtle suggestion and it's up to me to figure out where to take that suggestion.

I think it would be nice to have previous plots put together in a kind of storybook form. While I've been involved in a lot of them I can't remember shit about most of them. Not only would it help new people, it would help me as well. I also think that Pete's game was missed opportunity for a Cooking Mama type game.

I also do feel like this plot was cut short. If the sickness was cause by Kiyo then it makes sense that her being gone would remove it. But is she dead? Did she retreat back home? Is she still upset? I'm wanting to lay aside judgement because we're still waiting on Connor and maybe the staff intends to update it in bits.

Low level, tiny minion fights need to be able to garner points too. The crafted weapons were so expensive after people started buying them up. Now that the prizes have been given out, most of the stuff I want is for fighting. I don't need the bad-ass weapon, I just want the stuff that is drawn well.

I think Subeta should hire writers, most definitely. The plot wasn't bad, the pacing was.

some things i think could overall assist in making future events better:

-a global event journal detailing the current steps in the plot which notes the most previous step the user checking the page has completed, and which (if any) steps are optional (so that they can see if they are up to date or behind)

-a small news post hinting that there will be an event or happening of some sort (for example, for this event there could have been an NPC news post where they mention these REs and that if things get worse they might have to investigate in addition to the creepy REs) - this is a tool utilized in ARGs and chaotic fiction to assist in keeping the plot moving whilst also making sure players know that there are going to be clues to look for soon.

-maybe hire a consultant who is familiar with chaotic fiction and knows their way around it. because at the end of the day, they're basically the same thing. it could really help with the flow and writing of the plots, as well as the puzzle solving aspects of them. this is something that i think is really lacking from a lot of the mystery style plot events; they jump extremely easily from one step to the next with little to no effort. and that's great if you want an easy event that will have people waiting for the next step for hours, i guess. it just really fucks with the pacing of the story you're telling, though.