Happy Musings Thursday my friends! This week, as Krusty’s Last Gasp is winding down, I figured I’d do a musings post about my overall thoughts on the event. Usually, I wait until the event is officially over for my thoughts on it, but in this case, I think most of us are finished with it…and I want to save next week for some thoughts about potential Halloween updates (teaser for next week’s musings). As I wonder how many more gasps Krusty has left, I’ve got some thoughts, so let’s get to ’em…
Bart Screen
I said it last week, and I’ll say it again…the Bart screen is a MAJOR problem for players right now. Not impacting everyone, I’m really not having major issues, but it’s impacting enough players that it’s making a difference in who’s still playing TSTO. A lot of players are so frustrated they’re simply giving up on the game completely. EA really needs to get on this and see what the heck is going on…
Prizes
So we recorded Addicts Live earlier this week, where we really got into the nitty-gritty of this event…look for that episode on Saturday morning…and one thing was clear to all of us. EA really swung and missed on this mini-event.
This entire event has felt disjointed and like a hodgepodge of stuff thrown together to pass the time before THOH. It’s like EA had this great dialogue from the writers that came in (my guess is it came in a long time ago…back when this event was first teased), and said “hey we need something to put out to keep people in their games until October, let’s throw this out there. What other random crap can we throw in to fill out the event?”
The prize track, while it’s 7 overall “prizes”, contains 2 dozen donuts (and let’s face it donuts really aren’t a special commodity anymore), 1 COSTUME, 1 Building, and three…yes, THREE…crappy decorations! Klub Krusty’s pool?! Really? The Krusketeer set? Come on, who was as lit as a Christmas tree when they thought that hunk of junk would make a great prize?!
And Sideshow Lisa as the final prize?! A costume…for Lisa. Not even a highly desired costume for Lisa. During the entire history of The Simpsons, all the gags with Krusty, all the times Krusty was featured during the show…and they couldn’t come up with 1 freaking full new character to give us as the final prize? Is this our punishment for two prize track characters during Flanders?!
No task for Krusty (or Jimbo) at the Last Gasp Set, really?! How hard would it have been to give Krusty a sitting visual task there?!
The more prizes I unlocked the more annoyed I got at the prize track. Every prize felt unimaginative and like they didn’t complete them. Everything just feels so incomplete. Almost like a waste of tapping time.
Premium Content
I’m still really annoyed that the Clown College is a premium item, and even more annoyed that it’s 100 freaking donuts. 100 donuts for a building, that does nothing. I go off on this more during Addicts Live, so I don’t want to ruin it here (remember to check out the episode on Saturday)…BUT 100 donut for a stand-alone crappy building really has me concerned about the future price structure of this game. I hope EA course corrects this and we don’t see 100 donuts become the standard price for a crappy stand-alone building.
Sideshow Raheem is the best freaking thing in this whole mini-event. And that’s really not saying a ton, because I think his animations are pretty meh. But then again, EA didn’t have a whole lot to work with show wise.
Dialogue
Yet again the dialogue remains the best part of the entire mini-event. The writers really know how to keep us laughing, and I love how lately the dialogue has become a mini-episode in itself…even if the events themselves aren’t so great.
Although I will say, while the dialogue has stepped up over the last 10 months the events have really taken a step back. It would be nice if the writers and EA could be in the same orbit with content. Great dialogue and a great event…it’s not asking too much. Just think Stonecutters.
Final Grade
So, I don’t think this event is a total failure. The dialogue and Sideshow Raheem save it from total failure. I would say letter grade-wise this mini-event falls between a C- and D+. Although, if I’m being totally honest…I really think it deserves an INC for Incomplete.
Let’s hope EA steps it up for THOH and/or Christmas this year, otherwise, I fear even more players will Tap Out.
As a side note…EA if you’re reading this, and let’s face it we know that you are…it would go A LONG way with players if you actually sent the event info teaser packet out BEFORE the THOH actually starts. Build some hype for it. Which was, you know, the whole reason you started sending out the info packets in the first place…
And that’s it guys, my latest round of random TSTO Musings. Thoughts? Care to share your own musings on the topic? Sound off below, you know we love hearing from you!