Like every year, this year I left behind a perfect MALoween where I made a lot of friends and finally managed to collect all the candies in my 4th year. I found myself here again this year, wondering whether I could attend the event due to my busy schedule, and I'm glad I did. Many thanks to everyone who carefully prepared and worked hard for this event, as every year. But...
I'm sorry, but I think this year the event was prepared less creatively than in previous years. Yes, I am aware that it takes a lot of effort and time to build even one room and everyone puts a lot of effort into it, but I think if it could be done in previous years, it could be done this year. I believe that this event, whose number of participants increases every year, should improve on these aspects every year, or at least remain in the same position, but unfortunately there was a slight decrease in this regard this year.
Finally, I will evaluate the rooms according to my own ranking.
1- Mangaka School II: As someone who hasn't read even one manga, I don't know why I ranked this room as my best. Actually, I know because the room was very well prepared and much more enjoyable than last year. Finding the differences in the pictures, researching the poll results on Twitter and of course finding the mangakas were very enjoyable and there were definitely a lot of good improvements compared to the first edition. In this context, I think it was the only room that could achieve this, this year.
2- The Final DeathiNotion: I asked myself why the room that should be in the first place is in the second place, I thought for a while and came to this conclusion. Anime-Prime has managed to set the bar very high this year, as he does every year, and has made a lot of effort for this, this is definitely a fact. That's exactly why I think this room is in second place because this room already reveals its full potential every year and compared to previous years, it doesn't have much to improve on. It will be the 5th edition of this room next year and I think my only suggestion about this room would be to expand the anime pool. The number of characters that can be used has decreased considerably. In addition, as every year, this was a room where the most dialogue took place and we were able to make many friends. I think this room, which I can call the essence of MALoween, was wonderful. For me, MALoween is all about having a good time, solving a few good puzzles and making lots of friends, and this room is exactly that place.
3- Seiyuu School (声優スクール) V: As always, this is a well-prepared room with a lot of effort put into it, but just as I mentioned in The Final DeathiNotion, this room is not open to much improvement and is already pleasant and beautiful enough as it is. I think the only problem is that the Precious section of the room opens last because, especially this year, almost all of the difficult rooms opened towards the end and it was a bit overloaded in this context. I think it would have been better if the first part of the room opened towards the beginning and the second part opened towards the middle of the event. A well-deserved 3rd place.
4- Cursed Chamber: This room is in the 4th place because the riddles, the design and the room itself were nice enough. This room is in the 4th place because Aiimee is really a master at preparing rooms and it seemed to me that she could not show her mastery this year, even last year there were 15 puzzles. I have full confidence in Aiimee and since I know that she will come with a much better room next year, I don't say much, even though this year may seem a little less prepared compared to previous years.
5- Corpse God's Fortune-telling Shop: Making a room out of tarot cards was an absolutely brilliant idea and worked beautifully. I can't see anything bad about the room, I just have a habit of ranking the creative rooms a bit lower compared to the rooms where we solved puzzles, sorry Dancho. But your room is really great, a solid 5.
6- Naru's Nook of Nightmares X: Naruleach's rooms always follow a certain theme, so I don't want to talk too much about design and similar elements. The reason why she is in the 6th place seems to be that she prepared her room a little shorter this year. Other than that, it was very enjoyable and beautiful. However, I have to say that Pastebin is banned in my country and I have experienced minor problems in this matter. In this context, it may be necessary to pay more attention to such issues.
7- Spooky Scary Socials: There's not much to say, it's a very nice room, creative, enjoyable, new player friendly. There is a need for rooms like this every year. I'm just more of a puzzle guy. Thanks to CukieMunster for this beautiful room!
8- Heart of the Cards: I think the room was great in terms of concept, design and operation of the room. Did Firefractal have better prepared rooms? Yes, she did. But still, I think the room was very nice and well thought out. I am currently taking such a course at the university, Introduction to Web 3.0: The World of Blockchain, NFT and Metaverse, and in the 3rd week of this course, a few days before the event, while talking about Cryptography, she was the only thing that came to my mind and I said that I really wanted to attend MALoween this year. I thought I missed everyone so much. The reason why the room is in the 8th place is entirely mathematics, after all, I am a cinema student and I chose that course because I had no other option.
9- Cryptic Farce: I think bonus candy 1 and 2 were really well thought out and well prepared, but they also worked poorly. In fact, I thought it was a bit boring and painful, and I'm sorry that I didn't find the content of the hints given sufficient. I think the story, room and design were good here too, I even really liked the first puzzle and the main candy. The nonograms were nice and the clues placed within the story were good. But as I said, I think those bonuses didn't work really well and in the end, this room took the 9th place. Finally, although the story of the room was nice, I did not find it very connected to the puzzles solved.
10- Toilet of Wishes and Rumors 2: Supernatural Boogaloo: I think the concept, theme, design, everything was very nice. There was also innovation and development, albeit small, compared to the first year. But I think OfDeathandLove's Shop of Wishes and Melodies concept was much more beautiful and fun. I don't like writing rumors very much. So 10th place!
11- 【☠Time to Boo-gie!♫】: The design of the room was really beautiful, so much so that when I first opened the room, I got excited and thought to myself that something beautiful was coming, but unfortunately it did not come. I really wouldn't want to rank this room at number 11 because I think it was really fun to examine how other countries approach anime and listen to the songs, but other than that, I'm not sure if there's anything good I can say. A room shouldn't take less than 10 minutes. I listened to many adaptations, but even if I didn't listen to it, just with my general knowledge, the room was over for me in a very short time and I never looked back at the room, so much so that now, while I am writing this article, I see new things in the room and it is a bit sad. I think the concept was good, the idea was good and it can be continued, but it definitely shouldn't last this short.
12- Songs of Spirit Turmoil: I'm sorry, but I don't have a single good thing to say about this room. It's really sad to show up with this kind of room at an event that is held once a year, where veterans try to participate in one way or another every year, and where many new players participate. There's so much to say, but I don't want to say it. I hope there won't be a room like this in the next editions. The room itself took 2-3 minutes and it shouldn't have lasted that short.
* I didn't include Kabo-chan's Playrooms in this ranking because I think they are already very enjoyable and new player friendly. One should definitely not step back from these rooms and they should be here every year.
Cider House, Halloween Heist, The Flower Festival, Shop of Wishes and Melodies, Luna's Halloween Castle Party, The Monsters Party, Lost in Idol Hell?
I think these rooms from the old editions were very enjoyable and entertaining in every sense. I would definitely be very happy if they came back. (I know Luna and Raven stopped being mods, but still)
See you next year! |